Rocket Lab to Launch Climate Change Research Mission Focused on Arctic Ice Caps for NASA
14 August 2023 - 10:10PM
Business Wire
Across two Electron launches in 2024, Rocket
Lab will deploy NASA’s PREFIRE mission to study naturally occurring
radiation at the Arctic to better understand its impact on melting
glaciers, sea ice, clouds and water, and climate modelling and
forecasting.
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the
Company”), a global leader in launch services and space systems,
today announced it has signed a double-launch deal with NASA to
deliver the Agency’s climate change research-focused mission,
PREFIRE, to low Earth orbit in 2024.
The two dedicated missions on Electron will deploy one small
satellite each to a 525km circular orbit from Rocket Lab Launch
Complex 1 in New Zealand from May 2024. The PREFIRE mission has
specific LTAN (Local Time of the Ascending Node) requirements and a
need for the second satellite to be deployed to space shortly after
the first, which is made possible by Electron’s unique ability to
deploy dedicated small satellite missions on highly responsive
timelines. The launches will be the 7th and 8th missions Rocket Lab
has launched for NASA since 2018.
NASA's PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed
Experiment) mission will help close a gap in understanding of how
much of Earth’s heat is lost to space, especially from the Arctic
and Antarctica. Analysis of PREFIRE’s measurements will inform
climate and ice models, providing better projections of how a
warming world will affect sea ice loss, ice sheet melt, and sea
level rise. Improving climate models can ultimately help to provide
more accurate projections on the impacts of storm severity and
frequency, as well as coastal erosion and flooding. PREFIRE
consists of two, 6U CubeSats with a baseline mission length of 10
months.
Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck, said: “Missions like
these are core to the whole reason why Rocket Lab was founded in
the first place – to open up access to space to improve life on
Earth – and climate change is a hugely urgent cause for us all.
It’s a privilege to be able to support this important mission and
an honor to be a continued trusted launch provider for small
satellite missions with big impact.”
The PREFIRE mission was awarded to Rocket Lab through NASA’s
Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR)
program, a $300 million dollar five-year contracting vehicle for
placing NASA’s science and technology payloads on U.S. commercial
launchers.
PREFIRE joins a long list of NASA missions awarded to Rocket
Lab, including the CAPSTONE mission to the Moon on Rocket Lab’s
Electron launch vehicle and Lunar Photon satellite bus, the
back-to-back launches in May 2023 of the TROPICS satellites for
NASA’s hurricane monitoring mission, and the NASA Starling mission
launched last month on Rocket Lab’s most recent Electron recovery
launch.
+ About Rocket Lab
Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with
an established track record of mission success. We deliver reliable
launch services, satellite manufacture, spacecraft components, and
on-orbit management solutions that make it faster, easier and more
affordable to access space. Headquartered in Long Beach,
California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small
orbital launch vehicle, the Photon satellite platform and the
Company is developing the large Neutron launch vehicle for
constellation deployment. Since its first orbital launch in January
2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second
most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered 170
satellites to orbit for private and public sector organizations,
enabling operations in national security, scientific research,
space debris mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring, and
communications. Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft platform has been
selected to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as
the first private commercial mission to Venus. Rocket Lab has three
launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch pads at a
private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a third
launch pad in Virginia. To learn more, visit
www.rocketlabusa.com.
+ FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release may contain certain “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. These forward-looking statements are based on Rocket Lab’s
current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and
their potential effects. These forward-looking statements involve a
number of risks, uncertainties (many of which are beyond Rocket
Lab’s control), or other assumptions that may cause actual results
or performance to be materially different from those expressed or
implied by these forward-looking statements. Many factors could
cause actual future events to differ materially from the
forward-looking statements in this press release, including risks
related to the global COVID-19 pandemic; risks related to
government restrictions and lock-downs in New Zealand and other
countries in which we operate that could delay or suspend our
operations; delays and disruptions in expansion efforts; our
dependence on a limited number of customers; the harsh and
unpredictable environment of space in which our products operate
which could adversely affect our launch vehicle and spacecraft;
increased congestion from the proliferation of low Earth orbit
constellations which could materially increase the risk of
potential collision with space debris or another spacecraft and
limit or impair our launch flexibility and/or access to our own
orbital slots; increased competition in our industry due in part to
rapid technological development and decreasing costs; technological
change in our industry which we may not be able to keep up with or
which may render our services uncompetitive; average selling price
trends; failure of our launch vehicles, spacecraft and components
to operate as intended either due to our error in design in
production or through no fault of our own; launch schedule
disruptions; supply chain disruptions, product delays or failures;
design and engineering flaws; launch failures; natural disasters
and epidemics or pandemics; changes in governmental regulations
including with respect to trade and export restrictions, or in the
status of our regulatory approvals or applications; or other events
that force us to cancel or reschedule launches, including customer
contractual rescheduling and termination rights; risks that
acquisitions may not be completed on the anticipated time frame or
at all or do not achieve the anticipated benefits and results; and
the other risks detailed from time to time in Rocket Lab’s filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including
under the heading “Risk Factors” in Rocket Lab’s Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, which was
filed with the SEC on March 7, 2023, and elsewhere (including that
the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may also exacerbate the risks
discussed therein). There can be no assurance that the future
developments affecting Rocket Lab will be those that we have
anticipated. Except as required by law, Rocket Lab is not
undertaking any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
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+ Rocket Lab Media Contact Murielle Baker
media@rocketlabusa.com
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