Rocket Lab has launch abort at T-0 seconds
In attempting to launch five satellites for a French company today from its New Zealand launch facility, Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket aborted the launch at T-0 seconds.
The rocket was stable and quickly safetied by mission control. However, the launch had an instantanous launch window, so no additional attempts could be made today. No word yet on when the next attempt will be scheduled.
This launch would have been the second of five for the French satellite company Kinéis, which is using Rocket Lab to put its 25 satellite internet-of-things constellation into orbit.
One interesting aspect of this and all recent Rocket Lab launches: The company appears to have dropped its effort to make the first stage of the Electron rocket recoverable and reusable. It has recovered several stages after a gentle splashdown in the ocean, but except for the reuse of one engine, it has said nothing about reusing any of those stages. It could be management has decided to shift resources from this project to its new larger Neutron rocket, which is being designed from scratch for reuse and vertical landing. The test data from those Electron reuse attempts has likely been very useful, but the difficulties of redesigning the rocket to be reusable might not make sense financially at this point.
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In attempting to launch five satellites for a French company today from its New Zealand launch facility, Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket aborted the launch at T-0 seconds.
The rocket was stable and quickly safetied by mission control. However, the launch had an instantanous launch window, so no additional attempts could be made today. No word yet on when the next attempt will be scheduled.
This launch would have been the second of five for the French satellite company Kinéis, which is using Rocket Lab to put its 25 satellite internet-of-things constellation into orbit.
One interesting aspect of this and all recent Rocket Lab launches: The company appears to have dropped its effort to make the first stage of the Electron rocket recoverable and reusable. It has recovered several stages after a gentle splashdown in the ocean, but except for the reuse of one engine, it has said nothing about reusing any of those stages. It could be management has decided to shift resources from this project to its new larger Neutron rocket, which is being designed from scratch for reuse and vertical landing. The test data from those Electron reuse attempts has likely been very useful, but the difficulties of redesigning the rocket to be reusable might not make sense financially at this point.
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.
Something that small it is just easier to chunk it.
Neutron looks to be R-7 class…. single core Falcon is UR-500/Proton class.
Jeff Wright wrote: “Something that small it is just easier to chunk it. Neutron looks to be R-7 class…. single core Falcon is UR-500/Proton class.”
Peter Beck did not think that he would save money with the reused Electron, but he thought that he would have a fleet so that he could launch at a rate that is much greater than the manufacture rate, like SpaceX does.