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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.

Genesis cover

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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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

2 comments

  • Jeff Wright

    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.

  • Edward

    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.

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