Designed and built by Terran Orbital, CAPSTONE will support NASA’s Artemis program in reducing the risk for future Lunar bound spacecraft while propelling space exploration for all humankind
IRVINE, Calif., May 10, 2022 (Terran Orbital PR) – Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP), a global leader in satellite solutions, primarily serving the United States aerospace and defense industry, today announced it has shipped its CAPSTONE satellite to a launch site on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand. CAPSTONE will launch on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket using a Lunar Photon satellite upper stage to send the spacecraft on its planned lunar transfer trajectory. This historic pathfinding mission supports NASA’s Artemis program which includes landing the first woman and first person of color on the Moon.
WESTMINSTER, Colo. — It will have equilibrium. Poise. Balance. This pathfinding CubeSat will practically be able to kick back and rest in a gravitational sweet spot in space – where the pull of gravity from Earth and the Moon interact to allow for a nearly-stable orbit – allowing physics to do most of the work of keeping it in orbit around the Moon.
Electron launches on May 3, 2022. (Credit: Rocket Lab)
LONG BEACH, Calif., May 2, 2022 (Rocket Lab PR) — Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, has successfully launched its 26th Electron mission, deploying 34 satellites to orbit. Rocket Lab has now deployed a total of 146 satellites to orbit with the Electron launch vehicle.
HERNDON, Va. (Space Industry for Ukraine PR) — Leaders of the space community today announced the Space Industry for Ukraine (SIFU), an initiative designed to fund and execute efforts that provide immediate humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine. The initiative will be run by a steering committee, which includes HawkEye 360, National Security Space Association (NSSA), ABL Space Systems, ARKA, BlackSky, Capella Space, ICEYE, Insight Partners, Leidos, LeoLabs, Maxar, Raytheon Intelligence & Space, Rebellion Defense, Relativity Space, Riverside Research, Rocket Lab, Velos and Viasat. The steering committee will fundraise, select and monitor the execution of critical humanitarian projects throughout Ukraine and its neighboring countries. Additional participating donor companies include The Aerospace Corporation, Cognitive Space and Shield Capital.
SEATTLE. April 21, 2022 (Spaceflight Inc.) — Spaceflight Inc., the leading global launch services provider, is preparing for its 50th mission, which will launch aboard a Rocket Lab Electron no earlier than April 22. The RL-9 mission, called “There and Back Again,” is scheduled to launch from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. Following this launch, Spaceflight will have successfully launched 448 spacecraft across 50 missions across a global network of launch vehicles.
Electron rocket lifts off on Jan. 31, 2020. (Credit: Rocket Lab)
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Rocket Lab PR) — Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, today announced it has been selected by Virginia-based HawkEye 360 to launch three Electron missions for the radio frequency geospatial analytics provider. The first of the three missions is scheduled to be Rocket Lab’s inaugural Electron mission from Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia, ushering in an era of Rocket Lab launches from U.S. soil from no earlier than December 2022.
The complex will be home to production, assembly, and integration of Rocket Lab’s Neutron launch vehicle and is expected to bring up to 250 highly-skilled jobs to the region.
WALLOPS ISLAND, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Rocket Lab USA, Inc (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab”), a leading launch and space systems company, today broke ground on the construction of a state-of-the-art rocket production complex where the Company’s Neutron launch vehicle will be manufactured.
Rocket Lab’s Sikorsky S-92 helicopter arrives in preparation for first Electron mid-air capture attempt (Credit: Business Wire)
For the first time, Rocket Lab will attempt a mid-air helicopter capture of an Electron rocket as it returns to Earth from space, furthering the company’s program to make Electron the first reusable orbital small launch vehicle
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Rocket Lab PR) — Rocket Lab USA, Inc (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab”), a leading launch and space systems company, has announced today that during its next Electron launch, a commercial rideshare mission currently scheduled in April 2022, the company will attempt a mid-air helicopter capture of the Electron launch vehicle for the first time.
The former Aerojet Rocketdyne executive joins Rocket Lab with nearly two decades of aerospace experience and will lead all legal, governance, ethics, and compliance matters
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Rocket Lab PR) — Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, announced today that Arjun Kampani will join the Company as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, effective April 11, 2022. Kampani will lead Rocket Lab’s legal and regulatory affairs, guiding the Company on all legal, governance, ethics, and compliance matters.
Mr Kampani brings to Rocket Lab over two decades of experience advising and leading public and private businesses, including more than 18 years of experience in the aerospace industry. Mr Kampani joins Rocket Lab from his most recent role at Aerojet Rocketdyne, where he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary managing and advising on a broad range of issues including all aspects of corporate law, corporate governance, securities law, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, international transactions, and legal, ethics, and compliance issues.
Prior to Aerojet Rocketdyne, Mr Kampani spent 10 years at General Dynamics Corporation where he was its top mergers and acquisitions lawyer, completing 30+ acquisitions and divestitures, before going on to serve as Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary for General Dynamics Land Systems, a $4 billion international business. Mr Kampani began his career in New York at an AM Law 100 firm, and his educational background includes a Juris Doctor from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan. He is also a member of the New York State Bar and California Bar.
Mr Kampani’s appointment comes as Rocket Lab expands as an end-to-end space company across launch and space systems, delivering innovative technology and services across the entire space economy for satellite operators. Rocket Lab’s recent series of strategic acquisitions strengthens the Company’s position as a leading mission partner across launch, satellite design and volume manufacture, and on-orbit operations, with Mr Kampani to play a key role in executive management across all legal functions of the expanded business.
Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck, says: “I’m thrilled to welcome Arjun to the team. His extensive aerospace experience and deep legal and management expertise will be foundational to our fast-paced growth as we scale Electron’s launch cadence, aggressively develop Neutron, and delve deeper into space systems and satellite manufacture to support ambitious space missions.”
New Shepard takes off with six passengers on Dec. 11, 2021. (Credit: Blue Origin website)
At the end of a long article about the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) efforts to develop a virbrant space industry, The National revealed this bit of news from Ibrahim Al Qasim, deputy director general of the UAE Space Agency.
Mr Al Qasim revealed to The National that the agreement that was signed in 2019 with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic to bring space tourism flights to Al Ain Airport is no longer in effect, without explaining further.
Instead, the country is now working with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin to set up spaceports.
He said discussions with the company, which has already flown 20 people on its suborbital flights, are under way.
Any agreement to fly Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle would be dependent upon a technology safeguards agreement between the UAE and the United States. An agreement with New Zealand allows Rocket Lab to launch Electron rockets from the company’s spaceport on Mahia Peninsula. Brazil has signed an agreement that will allow U.S. companies to launch from the Alcantara Space Center.
The UAE state of Abu Dhabi has been a major investor in Virgin Galactic, which plans to fly suborbital tourism flights aboard SpaceShipTwo. In 2009, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Aabar Investments put in $280 million for a 31.7 percent share of Richard Branson’s space company. Aabar later invested an additional $100 million for a 38.7 percent share of Virgin Galactic.
The additional $100 million investment was intended to help finance the development of a small satellite booster that would be air launched from WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft when it wasn’t used for SpaceShipTwo suborbital flights. A new company, Virgin Orbit, split off from Virgin Galactic. The company dumped plans to use WhiteKnightTwo; instead, it uses a larger booster, LauncherOne, that is dropped from a modified Boeing 747 named Cosmic Girl.
Electron launches the Without Mission a Beat mission. (Credit: Joseph Baxter)
by David Bullock Staff Writer
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket launched two BlackSky remote sensing satellites into orbit on Saturday from the company’s Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.
The “Without Mission a Beat” flight carried the BlackSky Global-14 Gen 2 and BlackSky Global-15 Gen 2 satellites. The spacecraft were placed into a circular 430 km orbit.
Electron lifts off on Feb. 28, 2021. (Credit: Rocket Lab)
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Rocket Lab PR) — Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab”), a leading launch and space systems company, has today announced the launch window for its next Electron mission, a dedicated mission for BlackSky (NYSE: BKSY) through global launch services provider Spaceflight Inc., begins April 1, 2022 UTC. This launch window opening in April rather than March is weather related and will result in this mission and its related revenue being recognized in Rocket Lab’s fiscal Q2 2022, versus in fiscal Q1 2022 as was previously anticipated at the time Rocket Lab provided Q1 2022 financial guidance in conjunction with its Q4 2021 preliminary earnings release on February 28, 2022. As a result, Rocket Lab is updating its expected Q1 2022 revenue outlook from the range of $42 million to $47 million previously provided on February 28, 2022, to approximately $40 million.
Electron launches from New Zealand on Dec. 9, 2021. (Credit: Rocket Lab)
STUART, Fla., and TOULOUSE, France, March 21, 2022 (E-Space PR) – E-Space today announced it will launch its first demonstration satellites in the second quarter of 2022 to validate the systems and technology for its sustainable satellite system. The announcement marks an unprecedented timeline for taking a new space innovation from idea to reality as E-Space moves to swiftly build the most sustainable, secure and cost-effective satellite network in history.
Three demonstration satellites, designed and built in-house by E-Space, will launch aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula.
ORLANDO, Fla., March 08, 2022 (ACME AtronOmatic PR) — ACME AtronOmatic, LLC, makers of the popular MyRadar weather and environmental awareness app, has secured its FCC license for the upcoming launch of its first batch of prototype satellites out of New Zealand on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket. The launches are expected to begin in April.
The prototype launch will validate some of the company’s key hardware components for its upcoming HORIS (Hyperspectral Orbital Remote Imaging Spectrometer) commercial constellation expected later this year. The license is part of a streamlined, experimental license program available from the FCC geared towards expediting and simplifying the application process in order to nurture domestic innovation.
Rocket Lab’s new IMM-B high efficiency space solar cell. (Credit: SolAero)
Developed by SolAero Technologies Inc., a space solar power company recently acquired by Rocket Lab, the IMM-β solar cells are the highest efficiency commercial space solar cell
LONG BEACH, Calif., (Rocket Lab PR) — Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (“Rocket Lab” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: RKLB), a global leader in launch services, space systems and space solar power products, announced today that its next-generation solar cell technology is transitioning into qualification. The cell is the next product from SolAero’s patented Inverted MetaMorphic (IMM) solar cell technology, dubbed IMM-β, that is expected to exhibit a conversion efficiency of ~33.3% in volume production. IMM-β is the 4th generation IMM product created by SolAero Technologies Inc. (SolAero), a space solar power company acquired by Rocket Lab in January 2022.
