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Rocket Lab 'The Owl's Night Begins' Launch


The Owl's Night Begins

Rocket Lab's 17th mission is a dedicated launch for Japanese Earth-imaging company Synspective.

The Owl's Night Begins (StriX-α)

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Overview

Destination: Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Mission: Earth Science

Sun-Synchronous Orbit Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand Probability: 95%

StriX-α is a demonstration mission for Japanese company Synspective which plans to deploy a constellation of synthetic aperture radar satellites. For this mission, Rocket Lab will utilize a custom expanded fairing to encompass Synspective’s wide-body satellite – the first use of the expanded fairing options that Rocket Lab recently introduced.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Dec. 11, 2020, 9:46 a.m.

New launch date


spacevogel • Dec. 9, 2020, 7:40 p.m.

Launch is NET Dec 14 UTC due to weather


scottm3 • Dec. 3, 2020, 3:09 a.m.

Updated launch windows/time


spacevogel • Nov. 24, 2020, 7:42 p.m.

Launch NET Dec 12 10:09:30 UTC


Electron

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

Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab

(RL)

CEO: Peter Beck Founded: 2006 Successes: 59 Failures: 4 Pending: 33

Agency Type:

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 has launched the 17th flight of their small satellite launcher vehicle, Electron, on a mission named “The Owl’s Night Begins” after the only payload onboard: StriX-α.

Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

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