The second stage of an Electron Rocket Lab rocket carrying seven small satellites did not work properly after launch from New Zealand on Saturday, suddenly slowing down and losing altitude. The company confirmed that the vehicle and its loads were lost, but there was no indication of what went wrong immediately.
“We missed flight late on the mission,” company CEO Peter Beck tweeted. “I am very sorry that I was unable to deliver our customers’ satellites today. Rest assured that we will find the problem, fix it, and return to the platform soon.”
Rocket Lab’s groundbreaking Electron launcher, with 3D-printed engines and battery-powered fuel pumps, is designed to launch small satellites into low Earth orbit at relatively low cost, providing access to space for payloads that would otherwise have to wait to be more expensive. rides aboard larger thrusters.
The rocket launched Saturday was making the company’s 13th flight. It carried an experimental imaging satellite built by Canon, five Planet-owned “SuperDove” Earth observation imaging satellites and a small technology demonstration satellite built by British firm In-Space Missions.
The Electron took off from the picturesque Rocket Lab launch site on the rocky shoreline of the Mahia Peninsula at 5:19 pm EDT. The nine Rutherford engines that power the first stage functioned normally, propelling the rocket out of the lower atmosphere. The second stage, with a single vacuum-optimized motor, took over.
Rocket lab
But approximately five minutes and 41 seconds after takeoff, the telemetry provided by the Rocket Lab, shown in conjunction with the video provided by the company from the cameras on the rocket, showed that the speed of the stage peaked at around 8,509 mph, at an altitude of about 119 miles, and then started dropping.
The altitude continued to increase for another 26 seconds or so, reaching 121 miles, before it also began to decrease. Rocket Lab ended its launch webcast a few minutes later with no comment on the telemetry or mission outcome. But Beck confirmed the loss of the mission a few minutes after that.
Rocket Lab, founded in New Zealand and now based in Long Beach, California, launched its first Electron in 2017. The flight ended after a loss of telemetry, but the amp was working normally at the time. Saturday’s loss was the company’s second electron failure in 13 flights.
Spaceflight, a company that manages ride-sharing missions, including the launch of Canon on Saturday, said in a statement “of course we are disappointed, while at the same time always aware that launch failures are part of the space business “
“We will work closely with Rocket Lab and our client Canon Electronics, who had their CE-SAT-IB imaging satellite on board this mission to uncover next steps, but we did not flinch in our determination to take our clients into space. Our hearts go out to all the teams that worked so hard on this mission. “
A statement from Planet expressed its support for Rocket Lab.
“Although it is never the result we expect, the risk of launch failure is one that Planet is always prepared for,” the company said on its website. “We already have 26 SuperDoves … scheduled to launch on a Vega rocket (an Arianespace) later this summer, and several other launches in the next 12 months are on the manifest.”
“We have full faith that Rocket Lab will be able to recover from today’s failure in no time, and we look forward to flying on the Electron again,” added Planet.
Finally, In-Space tweeted that their team was “completely gutted by this news. Two years of hard work by an incredibly committed group of brilliant engineers in smoke. It really was a very cool little spacecraft.”
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