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Updated: 09:06 EDT: Rocket Lab missed the launch today because of high winds and has not yet announced a new launch date. The launch window extends over 14 days, with takeoff taking place 30 minutes earlier each day.
We are retiring from the launch attempt of today due to the weather conditions. Winds at the surface exceed 30% of the limit. However, we have many backup opportunities in the coming days. A new target launch date / time will be communicated soon.August 16, 2019
A Rocket Lab Electron thruster will launch a quartet of satellites in orbit Friday (August 16) and you will be able to watch everything live online.
The Electron rocket is expected to ship the four satellites at 09:29 EDT (13:29 GMT) from the Rocket Lab launch site on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand, where the local time at takeoff will be 1:29 pm. The launch window of Rocket Lab for the mission is one hour and 40 minutes.
"It will be another great launch night at LC-1!" Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab said in a Twitter update, referring to Launch Complex 1. "Must be visible for miles on the horizon as it goes into orbit in the night sky."
You can watch the launch of Rocket Lab on Space.com here with the kind permission of Rocket Lab. You can also watch the launch directly from Rocket Lab's livestream website here. The webcast will begin approximately 15 minutes before the launch time.
Related: Wild Plan Rocket Lab plans to catch up with its fall in flight
Today's launch will be Rocket Lab's eighth mission and will carry the whimsical name "Look Ma, No Hands". (The company based in Huntington Beach, California, has chosen wild names for all its launches.)
During this mission, Electron will launch the first cubesat for the French company UnseenLabs, which aims to build a constellation of small satellites to provide maritime surveillance of the Earth's oceans.
Rocket Lab will also launch the BlackSky Global-4 satellite for Earth Imaging, the second satellite of this type launched by Rocket Lab for Black Sky this year. (An Electron launched the BlackSky Global-3 in June.)
The last two satellites aboard Electron are technology demonstration spacecraft built by the US Air Force Command's Pearl White program. They will serve as a "test bench for emerging technologies in orbit in 2019," air force officials said in a statement. The launch of the BlackSky satellite and Air Force cubesats was organized by Spaceflight.
"The demonstration will test new technologies, including propulsion, power, communication and drag capabilities, for potential applications on future spacecraft," Air Force officials said. The two satellites were built by Tiger Innovations Inc. in Herndon, Virginia, and are expected to last about a year in orbit, they added.
Rocket Lab's Electron thruster is a 15 meter (57 foot) tall two-stage rocket. It is designed to carry payloads up to 500 lbs. (227 kg) in orbit for each mission, which Rocket Lab markets at $ 5 million per flight.
On "Look Ma, No Hands", Rocket Lab will carry an advanced data logger called "Brutus" to collect data on the first floor of Electron which will fall back to Earth after its separation from the second floor. Rocket Lab will use the data collected by "Brutus" to help its new project Electron Booster Reuse on multiple flights.
Rocket Lab announced last week its reusable Electron recall project at the 2019 Small Satellites Conference in Logan, Utah. As part of this plan, Rocket Lab is developing an in-flight recovery system to capture the first-stage Electron boosters when they fall back to Earth under a parachute. The boosters will then be refurbished and resumed on a future flight.
This story has been updated to include the new launch time of Rocket Lab's Electron rocket.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that six satellites were flying Rocket Lab's "Look Ma, No Hands" mission. The mission is currently carrying four satellites.
Send an email to Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him @tariqjmalik. follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook.
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