HomeRocket Lab mission blasts off, US spy agency’s satellites deployedBusinessRocket Lab mission blasts off, US spy agency’s satellites deployed

Rocket Lab mission blasts off, US spy agency’s satellites deployed


The first Electron mission since lockdown has blasted off from the Māhia Peninsula.

Rocket Lab/supplied

The first Electron mission since lockdown has blasted off from the Māhia Peninsula.

Rocket Lab’s Electron vehicle has taken off from the Māhia Peninsula in the Hawke’s Bay in the company’s first such mission since lockdown.

The mission, dubbed “Don’t Stop Me Now” by the company, launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 at 5.12pm on Saturday.

It is the company’s first launch since national Covid-19 restrictions eased, and the 12th Electron mission.

The launch deployed satellites to orbit for Nasa, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra Space and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), a United States spy agency.

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On Twitter, Rocket Lab confirmed all payloads had been deployed and described the launch as a “perfect mission”.

Among the satellites deployed as part of the ride-share mission were a Nasa satellite created by students and professors at Boston University to study Earth’s magnetic field, part of Nasa’s CubeSat Launch Initiative.

Also deployed were three payloads designed, built and operated by the NRO, an agency of the United States Department of Defence and a member of the United States Intelligence Community.

In statement, the company said the latest mission marked the second time NASA and the NRO launched payloads on the Electron platform.

Rocket Lab founder and chief executive Peter Beck said it highlighted Electron’s ability to meet the needs of government missions.

“It was a privilege to once again provide access to space for the NRO and Nasa, and to welcome UNSW Canberra Space to orbit for the first time,” he said in the statement.

“Missions like this one are testament to the flexibility we offer small satellite operators through our ability to deploy multiple payloads to precise and individual orbits on the same launch.

“This collaborative mission was also a great demonstration of Rocket Lab’s capability in meeting the unique national security needs of the NRO, while on the same mission making space easy and accessible for educational payloads from Nasa and UNSW Canberra.”

Earlier in 2020, the Green Party raised concerns about the company launching a rocket for a US intelligence agency off the coast of New Zealand.

Green Party foreign policy spokeswoman Golriz Ghahraman said her party was “concerned” about the launch given the current US administration’s aggressive moves in the Middle East.

The mission was originally planned for late March before being delayed by the coronavirus lockdown.

The M2 Pathfinder satellite – a collaboration between UNSW Canberra Space and the Australian Government – will carry out tests related to Australia’s future space capabilities.

In late April, Rocket Lab also announced it had rolled an Electron vehicle out to its Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island in the US state of Virginia.

That mission will be Rocket Lab’s first from US soil, and is scheduled for no earlier than the third quarter of 2020.

It will launch a single micro-sat from the US Air Force’s Research Laboratory designed to determine the ability of small satellites to support large aperture payloads to monitor space weather. The mission is being coordinated by the US Space Force.

The company has also said that in early March a helicopter caught a mock-up of the first stage of an Electron vehicle that was dropped by another helicopter over the ocean off the North Island.

A parachute was attached to the test stage, which was snagged around 5000-feet by a helicopter using a specially designed grappling hook.

Rocket Lab said the successful test was a major step forward in its plans to reuse the first stage of its Electron vehicle.



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