Rocket Lab launches seven satellites; recovers first stage from ocean
Rocket Lab today successfully used its Electron rocket to place seven smallsats into orbit, lifting off from New Zealand.
The first stage used parachutes to softly splash down in the ocean, where it was recovered for refurbishment and relaunch. As this stage is the first in which this full reuse will be attempted, the ability to refurbish the stage after its salt water swim remains the critical factor. We will not know its state until a complete inspection plus static fire engine tests are completed.
The leaders in the 2023 launch race:
47 SpaceX
26 China
9 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 India
American private enterprise now leads China in successful launches 54 to 26, and the entire world combined 54 to 45, while SpaceX alone still leads the rest of the world (excluding other American companies) 47 to 45.
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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.
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Rocket Lab today successfully used its Electron rocket to place seven smallsats into orbit, lifting off from New Zealand.
The first stage used parachutes to softly splash down in the ocean, where it was recovered for refurbishment and relaunch. As this stage is the first in which this full reuse will be attempted, the ability to refurbish the stage after its salt water swim remains the critical factor. We will not know its state until a complete inspection plus static fire engine tests are completed.
The leaders in the 2023 launch race:
47 SpaceX
26 China
9 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 India
American private enterprise now leads China in successful launches 54 to 26, and the entire world combined 54 to 45, while SpaceX alone still leads the rest of the world (excluding other American companies) 47 to 45.
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.
OT: I had never considered that there are standalone planets out in distant space. https://youtu.be/r5gbVonx37Q
The video says the Roman space telescope will launch in a few years and will detect more exoplanets. Would be fascinating to find out there are planets closer to our solar system than the nearest stars.
ULA still has not made the leaderboard. Wow. Half a year and a single launch. Man that assured access money is totally worth it.
”ULA still has not made the leaderboard. Wow. Half a year and a single launch.”
What payloads are sitting on the ground waiting for ULA? None. The delays are due to lack of payloads, not rockets.
”Man that assured access money is totally worth it.
ULA hasn’t gotten “assured access” money in years, but this hiatus shows why it was needed. ULA has rockets stacked up like cordwood but is waiting for payloads delayed for years by the government. That’s expensive, and the government has to pay for that.
ULA hasn’t gotten “assured access” money in years, but this hiatus shows why it was needed.
ULA during the Gass years made a decision to concentrate its business on government payloads. SpaceX did not. You see the results.
(But for the record, SpaceX has still somehow managed to launch 7 payloads for the U.S. government, not counting rideshare cube/small sats.)
“What payloads are sitting on the ground waiting for ULA? None. The delays are due to lack of payloads, not rockets.”
See Quick Space Links today:
“Apparently the customer, Amazon, could no longer tolerate the delays with Vulcan. It has to launch soon, because its license requires it to place a minimum of 1,600 satellites in orbit by 2026. Amazon also probably wanted off that first Vulcan launch because of the risks. Better to launch on the established and very reliable Atlas-5.”
Atlas V is a good rocket…but those RD-180s are running out, no?