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Very good material Mars_B4_Moon. Hope you don't mind; I am going to copy it to Terraforming.
Done.
Last edited by Void (2022-03-20 10:46:43)
Done.
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Rocket Lab launches 112th satellite to orbit
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Rock … t_999.html
The 'Without Mission A Beat' mission, arranged for BlackSky through global launch services provider Spaceflight Inc., was Electron's 25th lift-off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula. Following lift-off at 12:41 UTC, April 2, Electron successfully delivered the pair of BlackSky Gen-2 Earth-imaging satellites to a circular 430km orbit, growing BlackSky's constellation of real-time geospatial monitoring spacecraft to 14.
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Rocket Lab Breaks Ground on Neutron Production Complex in Wallops, Virginia
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Citing weather concerns, Rocket Lab pushed back its launch
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Rock … y_999.html
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Rocket Lab captures booster in mid-air with a helicopter for the first time
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rocket-l … 21271.html
Rocket Lab launches smallsats, catches but then drops booster
https://spacenews.com/rocket-lab-launch … s-booster/
Rocket Lab catches falling rocket booster with helicopter, but forced to drop it in ocean
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/128510 … t-in-ocean
'This is what it looked like from the front seats.'
https://twitter.com/Peter_J_Beck/status … 3803385856
The catch was successful for a while cheers and claps but, about a minute after the booster came in view, a collective sigh was heard from employees, now company says “more recovery details” to come.
https://twitter.com/mdcainjr/status/1521265832348766208
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-05-03 04:08:00)
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I am surprised that this worked. Trying to catch a heavy falling object by helicopter sounded like a recipe for disaster to me. Guess I was wrong.
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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Rocket Lab Prepares to Launch CAPSTONE Mission to the Moon for NASA
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Rocket Lab's Lunar Photon completes 3rd orbit raising maneuver for CAPSTONE Moon mission
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Over these days, Lunar Photon's HyperCurie engine will perform a series of orbit raising maneuvers by igniting periodically to increase Photon's velocity, stretching its orbit into a prominent ellipse around Earth. Six days after launch, HyperCurie will ignite one final time, accelerating Photon Lunar to 24,500 mph (39,500 km/h) and setting it on a ballistic lunar transfer.
Within 20 minutes of this final burn, Photon will release CAPSTONE into space for the first leg of the CubeSat's solo flight. CAPSTONE's journey to NRHO is expected to take around four months from this point. Assisted by the Sun's gravity, CAPSTONE will reach a distance of 963,000 miles from Earth - more than three times the distance between Earth and the Moon - before being pulled back towards the Earth-Moon system.
"Electron lifted its heaviest payload yet at 300 kg - the combined mass of Lunar Photon and CAPSTONE. We pushed the Rutherford engines harder than we ever have before and deployed Lunar Photon and CAPSTONE exactly where they needed to go to begin the next mission phase. Now it's Lunar Photon's show and we're immensely proud of its performance so far.
Such a tiny mass to go to the moon.
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This video is interesting and speculative, and in parts confused me. But interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdwCRqxM0KI
Quote:
Rocket Lab INSANE NEW Neutron Update SHOCKS The Entire Space Industry!
It is said that the specs for the Neutron have been upgraded for the load to lift to orbit.
There is speculation on a rocket fuel additive to improve performance, but I believe they said it was for solid fuels.
The only two other possibilities that I can think of are to catch the 1st stage in free fall so then no landing fuel needed, or a flyback from a barge.
Flyback from a barge, would be to land a 1st stage to a barge, and then refill it so that it can fly back to the original launch site, in a retrograde flight path.
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I was surprised to see it said that it is still open if the 2nd Stage might be recovered.
Using the 2nd stage as a space tug is another possibility I might imagine.
However, another video I have seen, has indicated that at least for the Electron, Rocket Lab and SpaceX are not that much in competition, as they serve different orbital placements. If similar is true for Neutron, then perhaps Starship could bring the Neutron 2nd stage down for a price.
They are talking about a possible crewed 2nd stage, where the fairings would be taken off of the 1st stage.
If the upgrade in payload is a real thing, then that might be a more substantial 2nd stage(s), I would think.
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Well, maybe it would be that they are simply going to make the Neutron larger.
Don't know of course.
Done.
Last edited by Void (2022-07-08 07:35:01)
Done.
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Beck: CAPSTONE demonstrates feasibility of low-cost interplanetary smallsats
https://spacenews.com/beck-capstone-dem … smallsats/
LOGAN, Utah — Rocket Lab’s launch of a NASA lunar cubesat mission lived up to its name, serving as a capstone for the company’s efforts to develop end-to-end space systems and interplanetary missions, according to its chief executive.
Giving a keynote at the Small Satellite Conference here Aug. 8, Peter Beck said the company’s work on both small launch vehicles and spacecraft came together with the June 28 launch of NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission to the moon.
Rocket Lab provided the launch on its Electron rocket as well as the Lunar Photon kick stage that performed a series of maneuver to place CAPSTONE on a ballistic lunar trajectory.
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Rocket Lab plans another helicopter catch later this year
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Rocket Lab announces private mission to Venus scheduled for 2023
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Rocket Lab launches Japanese radar imaging satellite on 30th Electron mission
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Rocket Lab expands US presence with engine testing, launch facilities
https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/21/rocke … acilities/
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Rocket Lab to build solar panels for NASA's CADRE Mobile Robot Program
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All about Rocket Lab's upcoming private Venus mission
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Rocket Lab sets new date for first Electron launch from U.S. soil
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Rock … l_999.html
The "Virginia Is For Launch Lovers" mission will lift-off from Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA's Wallops Flight Facility - a launch pad developed to support Electron missions from U.S. soil for government and commercial customers.
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Rocket Lab increases space systems offerings with new products for small satellites
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Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced on 13 February that the Government would provide NZ$11.5 million to support the community response to the cyclone. Severe Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle was a tropical cyclone which hit the North Island of New Zealand as well as parts of Vanuatu and Australia. It is the costliest tropical cyclone on record in the Southern Hemisphere, with damages estimated to be at least $13 billion NZD (8.12 billion USD). It was also the deadliest system to hit New Zealand since Cyclone Giselle in 1968, surpassing Cyclone Bola in 1988. By 19 February, Hipkins confirmed that 3,200 people were registered as uncontactable though he stated that the number was expected to drop. The Royal Australian Air Force deployed a C-130 Hercules as part of the international relief effort. The New Zealand Government accepted an offer of help from Fiji.
Cyclone Gabrielle: Rocket Lab helicopter mission underway
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/roc … KENLPSXOE/
New Zealand police reach more people previously not contactable after Cyclone Gabrielle
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci … 023-02-19/
New Zealand recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle to cost billions as death toll rises
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australa … toll-rises
The death toll from Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand climbed to 11 on Sunday as thousands of people remained missing
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-02-20 13:58:07)
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Rocket Lab set for dual launch campaigns in Virginia and New Zealand
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Rock … d_999.html
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Rocket Lab establishes Australian Subsidiary to support rapidly growing Space Sector
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Rock … r_999.html
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has established a new wholly-owned subsidiary, Rocket Lab Australia, to explore opportunities to support the expansion of Australia's national space capabilities. The Australian Government has set a goal to triple the size of the Australian space sector from an estimated AUD$4 billion in 2016 to AUD$12 billion and create an additional 20,000 jobs by 2030.
To help facilitate this growth, the Australian Government has committed more than AUD$2 billion to the civil space sector since 2018 for programs spanning Earth Observation, satellite infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing, and support for NASA's Moon to Mars Artemis Program.
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T-4 hours to lift-off for Stronger Together.
https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/16 … 8666424320
LOX loading has begun, with the propellant fill causing those icy white stripes to appear on Electron.
https://twitter.com/rocketlab/status/16 … 0477204483
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Founder Peter Beck, it is an American publicly traded aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider, with a New Zealand subsidiary.
The Rutherford engine uses pumps that are uniquely driven by battery-powered electric motors rather than a gas generator, expander, or preburner. The engine is fabricated largely by 3D printing, via electron beam melting, whereby layers of metal powder are melted in a high vacuum by an electron beam rather than a laser.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160131023 … ket-engine
,
https://web.archive.org/web/20171202102 … d=11432396
Successful battery hot swap confirmed. Now T+6 minutes into the mission.
https://twitter.com/rocketlab/status/16 … 0147813377
"Nominal transfer orbit achieved."
https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/16 … 6540506112
That means Electron’s second stage engine has shut down and the Kick Stage with capellaspace payload has cleanly separated!
'Perfect transfer orbit.'
https://twitter.com/peter_j_beck/status … 1608317952
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'Payloads deployed, perfect mission.'
https://twitter.com/Peter_J_Beck/status … 9846962181
Mission success! Both of capellaspace’s payloads have been deployed to LEO. Congratulations and welcome to your new home in space.
https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/16 … 7960965120
'Photo for RocketLab'
https://twitter.com/TheFavoritist/statu … 0561802242
'Brady, mate, you just don’t miss'
https://twitter.com/Peter_J_Beck/status … 9466429441
Rocket Lab’s Electron deploys two Capella radar satellites
https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/miss … atellites/
With a loud roar and trail of flame, Rocket Lab’s Electron hoisted a pair of Capella Space satellites into the evening sky.
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-03-17 06:25:32)
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