Rocket Lab Launches an Electron Rocket to Orbit From New Zealand
The company is aiming to complete its first commercial mission to space, a harbinger of a new breed of rocket that is small, cheap and able to be launched frequently.
CreditCreditRocket Lab
This weekend, a small rocket company is trying to launch its first commercial mission.
It will not be nearly as big a spectacle as the maiden flight of SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket in February, which propelled Elon Musk’s sports car on a trajectory beyond Mars. But Rocket Lab’s Electron is a harbinger of a new breed of rocket — small, cheap, able to be launched frequently — that could prove much more important in the future of how companies send swarms of smaller satellites to orbit.
When was the launch and how can I watch it?
Rocket Labis streaming the launch on the internet from its launch site in New Zealand. Although it blasted off on schedule on Sunday in New Zealand (Saturday night in the United States), it will take some time before the rocket deploys its payloads into orbit.
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What is the rocket carrying?
There are seven payloads, all small satellites. Those include two ship-tracking satellites for Spire Global; a small climate- and environment-monitoring satellite for GeoOptics; a small probe built by high school students in Irvine, Calif.; and a demonstration version of a drag sail that would pull defunct satellites out of orbit.
Why is the Electron rocket so small?
Just like technology on Earth, satellites are getting smaller and now can be launched on smaller rockets. Companies and governments now also see benefits to designing constellations of small satellites to perform tasks that were once handled by one giant, expensive satellite. With this approach, the failure of one satellite can be handled by moving around the remaining satellites. It is also quicker and cheaper to send up a replacement.
What other companies are building small rockets to launch smaller satellites?
There are at least 150 firms working on small rockets, although most probably will never get off the ground.
Some of the most promising are Virgin Orbit, started by billionaire Richard Branson; and Vector Launch and Firefly Aerospace, started by alumni of SpaceX.
Two other promising companies are Relativity Space, which looks to 3-D print most of its rocket, and Gilmour Space, based in Australia.
Kenneth Chang has been at The Times since 2000, writing about physics, geology, chemistry, and the planets. Before becoming a science writer, he was a graduate student whose research involved the control of chaos. @kchangnyt
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