Electron rocket fails during launch
Rocket Lab tonight (September 19, 2023 in New Zealand) experienced a launch failure during a launch of its Electron rocket from its New Zealand spaceport.
The failure occurred right after separation of the first stage from the upper stage. From that point all video from the rocket ceased, and the data indicated it was losing velocity, suggesting some failure of the second stage when its engines should have ignited.
This launch was to have been the second in a four-launch contract with the American company Capella Space, aimed at launching its constellation of commercial radar satellites for Earth observation.
The leaders in the 2023 launch race remain unchanged:
65 SpaceX
43 China
13 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India
American private enterprise still leads China in successful launches 76 to 43, and the entire world combined 76 to 69. SpaceX by itself still trails the rest of the world combined (excluding American companies) 65 to 69.
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Rocket Lab tonight (September 19, 2023 in New Zealand) experienced a launch failure during a launch of its Electron rocket from its New Zealand spaceport.
The failure occurred right after separation of the first stage from the upper stage. From that point all video from the rocket ceased, and the data indicated it was losing velocity, suggesting some failure of the second stage when its engines should have ignited.
This launch was to have been the second in a four-launch contract with the American company Capella Space, aimed at launching its constellation of commercial radar satellites for Earth observation.
The leaders in the 2023 launch race remain unchanged:
65 SpaceX
43 China
13 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India
American private enterprise still leads China in successful launches 76 to 43, and the entire world combined 76 to 69. SpaceX by itself still trails the rest of the world combined (excluding American companies) 65 to 69.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Crud
All of their failures have been 2nd stage failures, or ground sensors. The booster/1st stage has always been solid.
This has to be frustrating for the team to see this happen as they become a mature launcher.
SpaceX makes it look so easy, but seeing all the various launch failures, I guess it is not so easy. I guess that’s just how good they are.
Rocket Lab better get Neutron going and soon. They’re still not making money on those puny e- launches and never will. Musk learned that lesson immediately with Falcon 1. Chemical rockets simply have too small a mass fraction and must scale up if they’re to attract any appreciable PAY load. Failing 1 in 10 launches over 4 years will not help what little business case they can muster with the e-. Beck doesn’t have a lot of time to make that company profitable—I’m giving them at best a 50% chance of still being a separate company in 5 years.
Concerned:
At least Beck has now made sure that things will turn out well for him personally. He recently sold a lot of his Rocketlab shares and made a nice sum.
Your knowledge of Rocketlab’s business model is lacking. The launch services are not profitable, but that is not their money maker.
If they were not turning all their money into R&D on Neutron, they would be profitable as a company.
Beck is doing fine. He still has controlling shares. CEOs sell shares all the time.