Rocket Lab’s thirteenth mission ended in failure on Saturday, after the company’s rocket experienced some sort of problem after it was launched into space. As a result, Rocket Lab lost its rocket, as well as all the satellites it had on board.
The company’s Electron rocket successfully took off at 5:19 PM ET from the Rocket Lab’s main launch center on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The launch seemed to continue well during the crucial first few minutes, but approximately six minutes after launch, the live video from the rocket stopped. At that time, the Rocket Lab’s live broadcast indicated that the rocket began to lose speed and the vehicle fell at altitude.
Rocket Lab finally cut the live stream. The company later revealed that the Electron rocket had been lost during the flight.
Today, a problem was experienced during the launch of Rocket Lab that caused the loss of the vehicle. We deeply feel for the customers on board Electron. The problem occurred late in the flight during the second stage of burning. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
– Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) July 4, 2020
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck apologized for the failure on Twitter. “I am very sorry that today we were unable to deliver satellites to our customers,” he tweeted. “Rest assured, we’ll find the problem, fix it, and be back on the platform soon.”
The mission, called “Photos or it didn’t happen,” carried mainly small satellites with images of Earth. The primary payload was CE-SAT-IB from Canon Electronics, designed to demonstrate Earth imaging technology with high-resolution, wide-angle cameras. The rocket also carried five Planet company SuperDove satellites, designed to image Earth from above. The last payload was a small satellite called Faraday-1, from Missions in Space, which housed multiple instruments from startups and other organizations that needed a trip to space.
Planet CEO Will Marshall announced the loss of the satellites on Twitter, noting that the company has plans to launch even more satellites this summer in two separate launches. “Although it is never the result we expect, the risk of launch failure is one that Planet is always prepared for,” the company said in a statement. Planet is about to launch up to 26 of its SuperDove satellites on a European Vega rocket in August from South America.
Since its inception, Rocket Lab has put 53 spacecraft into low Earth orbit on 12 separate missions, with this weekend’s third launch for the Rocket Lab this year. Most of the company’s flights have been successful. Rocket Lab’s first flight in 2017, called “It’s a Test,” was the only flight that did not work according to plan; The rocket successfully launched and reached space, but did not reach orbit. All of the other Rocket Lab missions have been flawless since then, making today’s flight the company’s first major failure.
