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WASHINGTON – Rocket Lab has successfully launched an experimental satellite for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on March 28, as the company plans to move to a monthly pace of launches.
The company's Electron rocket took off from its private launch site in the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, at 19:27. Is. The payload of the rocket, a single DARPA satellite, is separated from the upper stage 53 minutes after takeoff. "Excellent etching at the kick stage and final orbit. Perfect flight! "Said Peter Beck, general manager of Rocket Lab.
The launch was scheduled for March 24, but was delayed shortly before the scheduled takeoff time due to a faulty video transmitter on the rocket. Weather conditions and limited launch windows delayed the next launch opportunity until March 28th.
The payload is a satellite developed by DARPA called Demonstration of Radio Frequency Risk Reduction Deployment (R3D2) that will test technologies for deployable antennas. Once in orbit, R3D2 will deploy a Kapton membrane that will reach 2.25 meters in diameter to demonstrate the ability of small satellites to carry large deployable antennas required for high-bandwidth communication.
The 150-kilogram satellite was the only launch payload because it absorbs all the mbad and volume available on the rocket. Northrop Grumman is the main contractor for R3D2, with the antenna provided by MMA Design and the satellite bus of Blue Canyon Technologies.
In January, when Rocket Lab announced its intention to launch R3D2, the company said the launch was the first of 12 that the company is expected to complete in 2019, with a growing rate of missions over the course of the year. . "Our goal for 2019 is to continue to provide this steady and reliable service into orbit," said Peter Beck, general manager of Rocket Lab, during an interview in January.
However, this mission has suffered a shift of about a month due to delays in sending the satellite to New Zealand and in the final preparations for its launch. We do not know what this delay will have on the Rocket Lab calendar. The company announced during its webcast that its call for the construction and launching of rockets each month was planned.
The company is currently producing an Electron per month, and Beck stated prior to this launch that the next mission's vehicle had completed the stage tests and that it was heading to the launch site. Rocket Lab did not reveal the payload nor the date of this mission.
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