Cryogenic burst test of a Neutron stage 2 test tank last October.

This crucial test involved filling the tank with liquid nitrogen & pressurizing it to expected flight pressures, then pushing it all the way to failure to test extreme tolerances.

https://x.com/SpaceOffshore/status/1819097810517586100

Rocket Lab is currently hiring for numerous marine positions related to the development of the Neutron rocket landing barge. The available roles include:

• Marine Operations & Logistics Lead
• Recovery Engineers (II, Senior, and Lead)
• Marine Commodity Managers (Supply Chain)

https://www.rocketlabusa.com/careers/positions/

Interesting that Rocket Lab is now considering barge landings for Neutron. This contrasts with one of the early concept videos where they stated that Neutron would always RTLS (return to launch site), and not land on a barge.

Owl For One, One For Owl

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-08-02 16:39 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZST) | 2024-08-03 04:39 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customers | Synspective | | Payload | StriX satellite | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into desired orbit |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdikUDvKYmc | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svnhIFuI4ro |

Stats

• This will be the 9th launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• This will be the 51st overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

StriX Launch 5

This is the first of a bulk buy of two Electron launches by Synspective to deliver their StriX satellites to low Earth orbit. StriX satellites can collect data with a ground resolution of 1-3m and a swath width of more than 10-30km. Each Electron launch will deliver 1 StriX satellite into orbit. This will be the overall 5th StriX satellite launched by Rocket Lab for Synspective.

Previous mission: No Time Toulouse

Next mission: A Sky Full Of SARs

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively new community, so feedback is very valuable!

Dawn aerospace looking good

Pretty cool interview with Sir Peter

No Time Toulouse

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-06-20 18:13 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZST) | 2024-06-21 06:13 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customers | Kinéis | | Payloads | Kinéis 1-5 | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into Low Earth Orbit |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYpQkHw9s1I | Everyday Astronaut | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjEdn_6evjs | The Launch Pad |

Stats

• This will be the 8th launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• This will be the 🎉 50th 🎉 overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

First batch of five satellites for the French Kinéis IoT constellation designed to operate with 25 nanosatellites of 30 kg each. The constellation will enable Kinéis, a company backed by private and public investors including the French government’s space agency CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales) and CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites) an international space-based solutions provider, to improve its global IoT connectivity.

Previous mission (PREFIRE And Ice) | Next mission (Owl For One, One For Owl)

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively new community, so feedback is very valuable!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16232325

Former Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung, high-profile company director Joan Withers and Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck have been given titular honours.

The appointment of a trio of businesspeople among the four new knights and dames is in stark contrast to the prior year’s list when, of the seven people given titles, the only business leader was company director Jo Brosnahan.

Congratulations, Sir Peter Beck!

PREFIRE And Ice

Just a week after the first PREFIRE spacecraft were launched, it's time for part two!

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-06-05 03:00 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZST) | 2024-06-05 15:00 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customers | NASA | | Payloads | PREFIRE | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into Sun-Synchronous Orbit |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBBhzkNzcYQ (scrub) | Everyday Astronaut | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyw7FyMzsgI (scrub) | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFygbJ4BiSs

Stats

• This will be the 7th launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• This will be the 49th overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

The PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission will send two CubeSats into space to study how much heat the planet absorbs and emits from its polar regions, including the Arctic and Antarctica.

Analysis of PREFIRE measurements will inform climate and ice models, providing better projections of how a warming world will affect sea ice loss, ice sheet melt, and sea level rise. Improving climate models can ultimately help to provide more accurate projections on the impacts of storm severity and frequency, as well as coastal erosion and flooding.

SpaceflightNow article

Previous mission (Ready, Aim, PREFIRE) | Next mission (No Time Toulouse)

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Ready, Aim, PREFIRE

Another month, another Rocket Lab launch!

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-05-25 07:28 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZST) | 2024-05-25 19:28 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customers | NASA | | Payloads | PREFIRE | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into Sun-Synchronous Orbit |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7nYAJ4dZP4 | Everyday Astronaut | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFwfQQLz7Q0 | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS-3rieuK6E

Stats

• This will be the 6th launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• This will be the 48th overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

The PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission will send two CubeSats into space to study how much heat the planet absorbs and emits from its polar regions, including the Arctic and Antarctica.

Analysis of PREFIRE measurements will inform climate and ice models, providing better projections of how a warming world will affect sea ice loss, ice sheet melt, and sea level rise. Improving climate models can ultimately help to provide more accurate projections on the impacts of storm severity and frequency, as well as coastal erosion and flooding.

SpaceflightNow article

Previous mission (Beginning Of The Swarm) | Next mission (PREFIRE And Ice)

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively new community, so feedback is very valuable!

Only slightly disappointing, and not too surprising. It's honestly pretty impressive how little the timeline has slipped so far. Neutron was announced in 2021 with a target launch date in 2024. If it takes only 33% longer, that will still be pretty quick for rocket development.

A potential new way to travel through space launched aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 located on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.

The mission, named “Beginning of the Swarm,” put two payloads into a Sun-synchronous orbit. The flight lifted off at 22:32 UTC on April 23, 2024.

One of the two payloads aboard the mission is NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3). The goal is to test a new composite that can be folded up inside something as small as a CubeSat and still deploy and remain rigid once in space.

For this test, the solar sail is designed to fit inside a 12-unit (12U) CubeSat, which measures approximately 23 by 23 by 34 centimeters (9 by 9 by 13 inches). This is comparable to the size of a microwave.

A solar sail involves deploying a large metallic sheet that acts like the sail on a sailboat. Similar to a boat, it uses a boom to extend the sails. Rather than using chemical or electrical propulsion, these sails use sunlight and solar wind to help push a spacecraft or satellite.

For this mission, flying the sail is objective number two. The first objective is to unfold the entire sail in approximately 25 minutes and see how well it holds up.

Once unfurled, the square-shaped sail will measure approximately 9 meters (30 feet) per side.

Beginning Of The Swarm

Well folks, it's time for the 5th Rocket Lab launch of the year!

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-04-23 22:32 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZDT) | 2024-04-24 10:32 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customers | NASA, KAIST | | Payloads | ACS3, NeonSat-1 | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into Sun-Synchronous Orbit |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9izutzETw1U | Everyday Astronaut | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RsjdotByms | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui5seaIDzMQ

Stats

• This will be the 5th launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• This will be the 47th overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

ACS3

NASA’s ACS3 technology demonstration uses composite materials - or a combination of materials with different properties, in its novel, lightweight booms that deploy from a CubeSat to support a solar sail. Just as a sailboat is powered by wind in a sail, solar sails employ the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, eliminating the need for conventional rocket propellant. Data obtained from the ACS3 demonstration will guide the design of future larger-scale composite solar sail systems that could be used for space weather early warning satellites, near-Earth asteroid reconnaissance missions, or communications relays for crewed exploration missions.

NeonSat-1

NeonSat-1 is a high-resolution optical satellite that will be deployed as a technology demonstration for a planned future Earth observation constellation. KAIST is Korea’s leading science and technology institution, having developed and operated Korea’s very first satellite KAIST when it was successfully launched more than 30 years ago.

Previous mission (Live and Let Fly (NROL-123)) | Next mission (Ready, Aim, PREFIRE)

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Link to tweet.

The way to compete against SpaceX, Beck said, “is to outsmart them and outwork them. You have to be the mosquito, that is for sure. And you have to be very agile. … The crazy thing about a mosquito is that it’s kind of annoying, but there’s a nonzero chance that you might get bit, get malaria and die,” he said.

Full article

Full article non-paywall