Rocket Lab launches photon satellite designed for lunar mission

• Rocket Lab just launched its first photon satellite: a spacecraft designed for missions to the moon, Venus or Mars.
• Named “First Light”, the spacecraft is just a demo, but NASA has contracted a rocket lab to fly the agency’s robotic moon mission in 2021.
• Simultaneously, an electron rocket and a photon spacecraft can cut through the most difficult parts of sending satellite missions to other planets, says CEO Peter Beck.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Rocket Lab – a private rocket company – quietly launched its own satellite for the first time this week.

Rocket Lab has been launching satellites of other companies aboard its electron rocket since 2018, but it has never placed its own spacecraft in Earth orbit before.

But the spacecraft he launched this week, the first demo of his own photon satellite, is designed to take technology from other companies and government agencies into space. Eventually, it could go as far as the Moon, Venus and Mars.

Monday’s unveiling appears on the first routine, similar to the 13 missions launched by Rocket Lab. The company’s Electron Rocket took off from its New Zealand launch complex on Monday, shattering its uninterrupted segments into the atmosphere. About an hour later, the rest of the rocket, called the Kick Stage, created an ultimate pressure in orbit above Earth and deployed a micro-satellite for the rocket lab customer – Capella Space Company.

But then something new happened: instead of firing its booster to pull itself back into Earth’s atmosphere, where it would disintegrate, the kick stage stabilized in its own orbit and entered satellite mode.

Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said, “There was a real magical moment, he was sitting with the engineers, where we sent the command to the kick stage … the command that turned the kick stage into our first satellite,” said Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck. Was. Thursday.

The company hopes that Photon will expand its launch service to include the SpaceFite service – which will take its customers ’satellite missions not only past the Earth’s atmosphere, but also beyond other planets. All the customer has to do is make his hardware fit on the photon.

If successful, the project could turn Rocket Lab into a satellite flight company from end to end. It will give it a unique role in the new commercial era of space, where private companies will launch, fly and land spacecraft for government agencies like NASA.

With the help of companies like Rocket Lab, NASA plans to eventually establish a permanent lunar base and then a possible spring-board mission from there to Mars.

Future photons will be able to travel to other planets – and one is booked for the moon

Rocket Lab shared plans last year to build a new satellite called Photon. The disc-shaped, single-motor spacecraft is designed for other companies to carry out missions to the moon, Venus and Mars – it is equipped with solar cells and navigation hardware.

This was his first release.

Rocket Lab dubbed the new spacecraft “First Light.” Beck told reporters he will be in orbit for the next five to six years.

“This first photon mission is really focused on proving all the techniques and operations, as a technological demonstrator – everything we need to take the moon and Venus and beyond,” Beck said. “It also provides an opportunity for our customers who are interested in photons to take a look at what we’ve actually created.”

Once the service is completed and turned on, customers should be able to purchase a ready-made photon spacecraft, load it with equipment for their purpose, and pay the rocket lab to launch it into space.

From there, the satellite can set itself on a path that leads it to the moon or Venus or Mars.

“Launching the first photon mission is a major turning point for space users – starting and running a space mission is now easier than ever,” Beck said in a statement. “When our customers choose a launch-plus-spacecraft mission with electrons and photons, they immediately eliminate the complexity, risk and delay associated with building their own satellite hardware and getting a separate launch.”

NASA already plans to use the 55-pound, “.7 13.7 million photon spacecraft” for the robotic lunar mission called Capstone (abbreviated to “Sislunar Aut Tonomos Positioning System Technol Ope G Operation and Navigation Experiment”). In February, NASA awarded Rocket Lab a 9. 95.95 million contract. The mission is set to begin in 2021 and is part of NASA’s Artemis Moon-Landing program – which will take several months to enter lunar orbit as a demonstration.

Rocket Lab announced Thursday that it has opened a new manufacturing facility in Long Beach, California “to accommodate streamlined and fast production of phototons.”

Beck previously told Business Insider, “People are a powerful platform for this to experiment and then use its full force.” “You don’t have to build a launcher. You don’t have to build a spacecraft. In fact, you don’t even have to develop your sensors – you can just give us the specs. [specification] And we’ll do the whole thing. That’s a very different approach to the current state of the art. “

Dave Mosher contributed to the report.