News
Live coverage: Rocket Lab launch delayed to Monday
Rocket Lab scrubbed a launch attempt Friday because of high winds at the company’s launch site on New Zealand’s North Island. The company plans to try again Monday at 1212 GMT (8:12 a.m. EDT). When it takes off, an Electron rocket aims to deliver four small satellites into a 335-mile-high orbit for commercial and U.S. military customers.
Smallsat companies teaming up on deorbit experiment
TriSept Corp. has announced plans for a commercial technology demonstration mission set for launch next year on a Rocket Lab Electron vehicle to test a deployable conductive tape, made by Tethers Unlimited, that could help small satellites more quickly fall out of orbit at the end of their missions.
ICEYE releases first sub-meter radar imagery from a microsatellite
ICEYE, a Finnish company that builds and operates a growing fleet of commercial Earth-observing spacecraft, has released the first radar image from a microsatellite with a resolution of less than 1 meter, showcasing advances in tech miniaturization that could aid environmental monitoring, military surveillance, and the exploration of other planets.
Rocket Lab to begin booster recovery experiments later this year
Rocket Lab’s next launch from New Zealand, set for Friday, will carry a data recorder to measure the aerothermal environments encountered by the Electron launcher’s first stage during descent back into the atmosphere, information engineers say is crucial to successfully achieving the company’s newly-announced plan to recover and reuse the booster.