Rocket Lab completes construction of first launchpadThe competition heats up: Rocket Lab today announced the completion of its first launch complex at its launch site in New Zealand.
Air traffic near the launch complex site is fairly sparse, which the company says will allow it to achieve the “highest frequency of launches in history,” according to a statement from the company obtained by Space.com. Peter Beck, Rocket Lab’s CEO, told Space.com in an interview that the complex is licensed to conduct a launch as frequently as every 72 hours. However, the company expects to carry out a launch about four to five times per month, he said.
The statement from Rocket Lab declared its new facility “the world’s first private orbital launch complex.” The private spaceflight company Blue Origin operates a private launch facility in Texas, but has only used that facility for suborbital flights. The private spaceflight company SpaceX has not yet completed construction on its private orbital launch facility in Texas.
They say they will begin test launches before the end of the year.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The competition heats up: Rocket Lab today announced the completion of its first launch complex at its launch site in New Zealand.
Air traffic near the launch complex site is fairly sparse, which the company says will allow it to achieve the “highest frequency of launches in history,” according to a statement from the company obtained by Space.com. Peter Beck, Rocket Lab’s CEO, told Space.com in an interview that the complex is licensed to conduct a launch as frequently as every 72 hours. However, the company expects to carry out a launch about four to five times per month, he said.
The statement from Rocket Lab declared its new facility “the world’s first private orbital launch complex.” The private spaceflight company Blue Origin operates a private launch facility in Texas, but has only used that facility for suborbital flights. The private spaceflight company SpaceX has not yet completed construction on its private orbital launch facility in Texas.
They say they will begin test launches before the end of the year.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
From the article: “sun-synchronous orbits (so the satellite flies over a point on the Earth at the same time every day).”
There are two advantages to sun-synchronous orbits. The shadows on your photographs are the same with each pass, allowing for less ambiguity in photo interpretation between photos, and a satellite can remain always in sunshine, saving weight on batteries, because the satellite does not go into Earth’s shadow.
Although the cost per pound is a bit high, about $17,000*, customers will be very happy to be able to put their satellites into specific orbits rather than into the arbitrary orbits that they would be stuck with by piggybacking with other (primary) satellites on larger rockets. There are many other launch companies vying for this niche (about 20, last I heard), but getting in sooner than later may give Rocket Lab the advantage to be very successful, so long as they can adapt to the coming competition.
It is encouraging that Rocket Lab has several contracts already signed, as it demonstrates that customers are confident that the company will succeed. I am very excited about Rocket Lab, and I think that their success will encourage the launch and use of many more small satellites than in the past.
If inexpensive small satellites become common, their use may be very different than the current use of large, heavy satellites. An inexpensive satellite may need to operate for only a few months or weeks in Low Earth Orbit in order to pay for itself, and then it can deorbit and avoid becoming space debris.
* Orbital ATK’s Pegasus rocket also launches small spacecraft. It has three times the launch weight capacity but at ten times the price.