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KIERAN FANNING / STUFF
Although it is launched from New Zealand, Rocket Lab has many links with the US Army.
Rocket Lab has launched its spaceship demonstration of risk reduction deployment (R3D2) as part of a test using US military technology.
The launch took place at noon FridayFrom its launch pad on the Mahia Peninsula in Wairoa District.
Rocket Lab, founded by the Kiwi Peter Beck, has launched an experimental antenna for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the experimental technology division of the US Department of Defense. It had been approved at ministerial level in New Zealand.
"The mission could help validate emerging concepts for a resilient low-Earth-orbit sensor and data transport layer, a capability that does not exist today, but could revolutionize global communications by throwing the basics of an Internet based on space, "Beck said in January.
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PROVIDED
Rocket Lab launched on Friday its spacecraft carrying a cargo of DARPA from Mahia.
"The antenna, composed of a thin Kapton membrane, is housed inside the small satellite to be stowed at launch, before deploying to its maximum size of 2.25 meters in diameter once it will reach the low Earth orbit, "he said.
The launch of R3D2 by Rocket Lab followed a successful 2018 year for the company, which included a partnership with the US NASA space agency.
Although it is launched from New Zealand, Rocket Lab has many links with the US Army.
One of the company's investors is Lockheed Martin, the world's largest weapons manufacturer.
DARPA has been described as the Pentagon's "mad science division", charged with pioneering new technologies for military and commercial applications.
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