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COLORADO SPRINGS – After gaining a foothold in the small pitcher market, Rocket Lab is now considering entering the small satellite sector with a bus that, according to the company, can get customers to orbit faster.
At the 35th Space Symposium, Rocket Lab unveiled Photon, a small platinum-based model used by the company on its Electron rocket. The company offers Photon as part of an end-to-end service that includes an Electron launch and the ability to manage spacecraft operations.
In an interview, Peter Beck, managing director of Rocket Lab, introduced Photon as a platform allowing customers to integrate various payloads, ranging from Earth observation cameras to communications equipment, and to put them into orbit more quickly than if companies were building their own satellites.
"We are seeing a lot of companies, especially in the NewSpace sector, building their satellites for the first time," he said. "They are trying to provide a data service but they have to learn to develop their own satellite, rather than generate revenue."
Beck argued that Rocket Lab's integrated approach would be more efficient and less risky for startups. "You can use not only a proven launcher, but also a proven space vehicle platform, so you do not take time to develop or risk putting your idea into orbit," he said.
The company believes that Photon is particularly well suited for technology demonstration missions, in which customers quickly bring the payload that they want to reach into space before using it in a larger constellation. Rocket Lab could also provide payloads in addition to the bus. "If you just have an idea and do not want to develop a payload, whether it's through Rocket Lab or Rocket Lab partnerships, we can do that, too," he said.
The Photon spacecraft itself has not yet flown, but it is based on the launch phase that flew successfully in four of the first five Electron launches. Beck said the company was planning from the start to turn the kick phase into a satellite bus. "If you can build a launcher," he said, "you certainly have all the expertise and equipment needed to build a spaceship."
Rocket Lab will manufacture the Photon at its Huntington Beach, California plant, where it also manufactures the Rutherford engine, propelling Electron. The company estimates that it can produce and launch a Photon in just four months.
Mr. Beck did not specify the number of satellites that can be produced by the plant, but said that this network was "strongly related" to the rate of electron production, which the company is trying to accelerate to reach one rocket a week. The company has reserved about half of the Huntington Beach facility space for satellite production.
Each photon can carry up to 170 kilograms of payload. Beck said the company planned to launch only one Photon at a time, but that each Photon could carry several payloads. The first Photon will not be launched until 2020 because the company's launch manifesto for 2019 is complete.
Rocket Lab is working with "a number of customers" interested in Photon, but Beck said the company was not yet ready to announce any of them. He was not worried that Photon would deter companies developing their own satellites from launching them on Electrons.
"We do not have the intention of making people use Photon," Beck said. "It's just an addition to our product line to help people get objects into orbit."
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