Rocket Labs Second Orbital Launch and Satellite Deployment a Success
Peter Brown | November 14, 2018Elon Musk’s SpaceX has made waves over the past few years as one of the main ways that NASA delivers cargo to the International Space Station and puts satellites into orbit. SpaceX has also been one of the main advocates for the space program returning to the moon and eventually manning a mission to Mars.
Rocket Lab has been lagging behind the success of SpaceX, but over the weekend, the New Zealand aerospace company may have caught up a little after it had its second successful orbital launch and deployment of customer satellites.
The mission, called It’s Business Time, was carried out on Rocket Lab’s Electron spacecraft and once it reached orbit deployed six satellites for customers Spire Global, Tyvak, Nano-Satellite Systems, Fleet Space Technologies and the Irvine CubeSat Stem Program. The spacecraft also carried NABEO (Nanosat Bremssegel Entfaltversuch im Orbit), a drag sail technology demonstrator designed and built by High Performance Space Structure Systems GmbH to passively de-orbit small satellites and reduce space junk.
“The world is waking up to the new normal,” said Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab. “With the Electron launch vehicle, rapid and reliable access to space is now a reality for small satellites.”
Rocket Lab said it will conduct a higher frequency of launches beginning in 2019 with a goal of eventually licensing up to 120 launches per year. Rocket Lab will conduct its next mission in December as part of NASA’s Elana 19 mission.
Watch the full It’s Business Time launch video Rocket Lab has posted on Youtube.
What a very uplifting story.