Rocket Lab plans to launch its Electron vehicle for the fiftieth time (June 20) and you can watch this historic moment live.
An Electron rocket topped by five small satellites for French Internet of Things (IoT) company Kinéis is expected to lift off from Rocket Lab in New Zealand today at 14:13 EDT (18:16 GMT; 6:13 local New Zealand time). June 21).
Rocket Lab will broadcast the launch live, 30 minutes before liftoff. Space. com will broadcast the broadcast, courtesy of Rocket Lab.
If you take a look at all the obstacles we had to overcome, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll make it to our first launch. As we approach our 50th release, @Peter_J_Beck reflects on the scale of the task ahead of us to bring Electron to life. Fortunately, we never hesitated in front of. . . June pic. twitter. com/MnZChovpDY17, 2024
Rocket Lab is calling today’s project “No Time Toulouse,” a nod to the French city in which Kineis is based.
If all goes according to plan, all five satellites will be deployed in low-Earth orbit, at an altitude of 635 kilometres. They are the first members of the IoT constellation of 25 satellites planned through Kineis, of which the other 20 will also travel electron rockets.
“The new constellation of Kinéis will link any object anywhere in the world and transmit specific and useful knowledge to users, in near real-time, with a low power intake thanks to tougher nanosatellites in the elegance of 30 kg [66 lbs]. that incorporate IoT technology. Rocket Lab wrote in a description of the project.
“The constellation also includes a second mission: an automatic identity formula (AIS) for tracking ships,” the company added. “Once implemented, these technologies will enable Kinéis to expand across industries and grow from 20,000 connected devices to millions. “
The 18-meter-tall Electron made its debut in May 2017, in a test flight that ended in failure. So far, the rocket has completed 48 orbital missions, 44 of which have been successful.
The suborbital variant of Electron, known as HASTE (“Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron”) also has a project under its belt, a successful test flight unveiled in June 2023.
If all goes according to plan, Electron’s 50th flight will take place seven years and a month after its debut, even faster than SspeedX’s Falcon Nine, which took seven years and nine months to reach the 50 mark. The Falcon nine, of course, has accelerated significantly since then; It has already been introduced more than 60 times in 2024.
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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Editor at Space. com and joined the team in 2010. It basically covers exoplanets, spaceflight, and military space, but it is known to go into the realm of space art. His book about the search for extraterrestrial life, “Out There,” was published on November 13, 2018. Prior to becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He holds a Ph. D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a B. A. from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in scientific writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his most recent assignment is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.
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