Rocket Lab Prepares to Launch Mission for KAIST and NASA to Deploy Satellites to Two Separate Orbits
01 April 2024 - 10:15PM
Business Wire
This latest mission will see Rocket Lab perform
multiple in-space engine burns to deploy two payloads to separate
orbits several hundred kilometres apart.
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the
Company”), a global leader in launch services and space systems,
today announced it has set the launch window for its next Electron
launch.
The ‘Beginning Of The Swarm’ mission is scheduled to launch from
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand during a 14-day
launch window that opens on April 24th. Electron will carry two
satellites for two separate customers: NEONSAT-1, an Earth
observation satellite for the Satellite Technology Research Center
(SaTReC) at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
(KAIST), and NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System
(ACS3).
The primary payload for this mission, NEONSAT-1, is an Earth
observation satellite with a high-resolution optical camera
designed to monitor for natural disasters along the Korean
Peninsula by pairing its images with artificial intelligence.
NEONSAT-1 is the first satellite developed under the NEONSAT
program by SaTReC and KAIST, Korea’s leading university in science
and technology, which developed and operated Korea’s very first
satellite KITSAT-1 more than 30 years ago. Other NEONSAT satellites
are planned to be launched in 2026 and 2027 to build out the
NEONSAT constellation. The program is a collaboration across
multiple Korean academic, industry, and research institutions
including SaTReC in KAIST, which is leading the program’s system
design and engineering; the SaTReC Initiative, a Korean satellite
manufacturer that has successfully developed seven previous remote
sensing satellites for low Earth orbit; and the Korea Aerospace
Research Institute (KARI), which is managing the mission’s ground
segments and technology supervision for the NEONSAT program.
NEONSAT is funded by the Koren government’s Ministry of Science and
ICT (MSIT).
NASA’s ACS3 is a technology demonstration of new materials and
deployable structures for solar sail propulsion systems that use
sunlight to propel the spacecraft. Much like a sailboat is powered
by wind pushing against a sail, solar sails employ the pressure of
sunlight for propulsion, eliminating the need for conventional
rocket propellant. The mission plans to test the deployment of new
composite booms that will unfurl the solar sail to measure
approximately 30 feet per side, or about the size of a small
apartment in total. Flight data obtained during the demonstration
will be used for designing future larger-scale composite solar sail
systems for space weather early warning satellites, asteroid and
other small body reconnaissance missions, and missions to observe
the polar regions of the sun. The ACS3 was designed and built at
NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and the
technology demonstration is managed and funded by the Small
Spacecraft Technology program at and with NASA’s Ames Research
Center in Silicon Valley. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate,
interested in larger solar sail missions in the future, is funding
an extended operations component to execute a series of maneuvers
to raise and lower the spacecraft’s orbit, demonstrating the
practicality of solar sailing.
The capability of Electron’s Kick Stage to perform multiple
engine burns in space and deploy individual satellites to unique
orbits is critical to this mission. The Kick Stage will first
ignite its Curie engine to deploy NEONSAT-1 to its target 520km
circular Earth orbit. After the payload’s separation, it will
ignite its Curie engine again to perform an apogee raise to
1,000km. Once in this phasing orbit, the Curie will ignite a third
time to circularise before deploying the solar sail demonstration
spacecraft. The Kick Stage will then ignite Curie a fourth and
final time to perform a deorbit burn that returns the Kick Stage
closer to Earth, speeding up its eventual deorbit and removal from
space to support a more sustainable space environment. Rocket Lab
has demonstrated similar orbit raises, inclination changes, and
deorbit maneuvers across previous Electron missions and most
recently with its successful spacecraft re-entry for Varda on
February 21, 2024.
‘Beginning Of The Swarm’ will be Rocket Lab’s fifth mission of
2024 and the 47th Electron launch overall.
‘Beginning Of The Swarm’ details:
- Launch window: opens no-earlier-than April 24, 2024.
- Customers: The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and
Technology (KAIST) and NASA.
- Satellites: NEONSAT-1 for SaTReC/KAIST and the Advanced
Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) for NASA.
- Target orbits: NEONSAT-1 to 520km circular Earth orbit, ACS3 to
1,000km circular Earth orbit.
- Launch broadcast: The launch will broadcast live at
www.rocketlabusa.com/live-stream
+ 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 181
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
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+ Rocket Lab Media Contact Murielle Baker
media@rocketlabusa.com
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