Rocket Lab completes construction of first launchpad
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.
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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.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
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.