Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket takes off on July 4, 2020.
Rocket lab
Small rocket builder Rocket Lab will return to the launch pad in August, as the company said it diagnosed the cause of its recent launch failure and received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to resume launches.
“We were able to quickly reconstruct what happened, and the [investigation] the board was able to confidently narrow the issue down to a single eligible connection, “Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck told reporters during a briefing on Friday.
The company’s Electron rocket launched its 13th mission on July 4, carrying seven small satellites bound for orbit. But the rocket never reached its destination, despite the early stages of launch going according to plan, as a disconnection in its electrical system caused the rocket’s engine to go out. Rocket Lab says the root of the problem was an unsecured electrical system, causing the part to overheat and then melt during flight.
Along with FAA investigators, the company reviewed more than 25,000 launch data channels to identify the cause of the crash.
“This disconnect was incredibly unusual because it was able to evade all pre-flight acceptance tests,” said Beck. “It is a very cunning subject and difficult to try to detect.”
Beck noted that Rocket Lab has built more than 720 of these electrical components. The company made a “slight change” in its production process and will look for the problem in the rockets it built.
“Anyone who flies with Electron will now fly in a more reliable vehicle than before,” said Beck.
First release in the US
Rocket Lab is the industry leader in the construction and launch of small rockets, targeting the growing market for satellites and spacecraft that are between the size of a toaster and a refrigerator. Its Electron rocket is priced at about $ 7 million per launch and is 55 feet tall, or about a fifth the size of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Started in 2006, the company has around 600 employees and is backed by a host of venture capital firms and, in recent years, has increased its valuation to more than $ 1.2 billion. It is based in Long Beach, California, but was founded by Beck in New Zealand, where it has a privately built launch pad.
Beck said “there was a financial loss” from the July 4 failure “because we are not pitching.” But he downplayed the significance of that loss, saying “it wasn’t really a big deal,” noting that the company still has cash aside from its $ 140 million funding round in November 2019.
Rocket Lab has launched its Electron rocket into space 12 times. It first came into orbit in January 2018 and is nearing the start of launches from a second platform in Virginia. The first launch from that location in the United States, called the LC-2, will be “a few weeks” after the August launch, Beck said.
“We have not launched this month and we are trying to have a cadence of one month, so we are at least four weeks late,” added Beck.
To date, the company has successfully deployed 53 payloads.
Additionally, the company last year expanded into the spacecraft construction business with its Photon satellite platform. Its business has grown to include the construction of satellite hardware and earlier this year it passed key milestones in developing a system to reuse its rockets, taking them out of the sky using parachutes and a helicopter.
Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day scheduling from around the world.
.
