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It's A Little Chile Up Here

Rocket Lab will launch a dedicated mission for the United States Space Force (USSF) to deploy a single research and development satellite to low Earth orbit.

STP-27RM (It’s a Little Chile Up Here)

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Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Government/Top Secret

Low Earth Orbit Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A Onenui Station, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand Probability: 90%

A U.S. Air Force experimental spacecraft. It will demonstrate the use of a deployable sensor, where the sensor’s mass is a substantial fraction of the total mass of the spacecraft and provide a platform to test future space protection capabilities.

Updates

SwGustav • July 29, 2021, 7:16 a.m.

Launch success confirmed


Cosmic_Penguin • July 28, 2021, 1:30 a.m.

New launch time


Nosu • Nov. 15, 2020, 8:50 a.m.

Moved to 2021


Electron

Family: Electron
Configuration:

Electron is a two-stage orbital expendable launch vehicle (with an optional third stage) developed by the American aerospace company Rocket Lab. Electron is a small-lift launch vehicle designed to launch small satellites and cubesats to sun-synchronous orbit and low earth orbit. The Electron is the first orbital class rocket to use electric-pump-fed engines, powered by the 9 Rutherford engines on the first stage. It is also used as a suborbital testbed (called HASTE) for hypersonics research.

See Electron Details
Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    2
  • Max Stage
    3
  • Length
    18.0 m
  • Diameter
    1.2 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    1.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    13 T
  • Thrust
    162 kN
Family
  • Name
    Electron
  • Family
    Electron
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Electron
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $6000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    300 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    225 kg

Rocket Lab

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CEO: Peter Beck Founded: 2006 Successes: 41 Failures: 4 Pending: 28

Agency Type: Commercial

Rocket Lab is an American aerospace manufacturer with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. The company develops lightweight, cost-effective commercial rocket launch services. The Electron Program was founded on the premise that small payloads such as CubeSats require dedicated small launch vehicles and flexibility not currently offered by traditional rocket systems. Its rocket, the Electron, is a light-weight rocket and is now operating commercially. The company is also producing a variety of spacecrafts and spacecrafts components.

INFO WIKI

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Rocket Lab returns Electron to flight with Space Force launch

Rocket Lab returned its Electron rocket to flight July 29 with the successful launch of an experimental satellite for the U.S. Space Force.

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Rocket Lab is set to launch a small U.S. military technology demonstration satellite from New Zealand Thursday on the company’s first mission since a second stage failure doomed a commercial mission in May.

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Onenui Station, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

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