Rocket Lab targeting Jan. 23 for 1st launch from US soil

Rocket Lab's Electron launcher will lift off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia

Rocket Lab's debut mission from American soil will lift off less than two weeks from now, if all goes according to plan.

The launch window for Rocket Lab's "Virginia Is for Launch Lovers" mission will open on Jan. 23, the company announced on Wednesday (Jan. 11). The flight will lift off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia (hence the name).

The launch window runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST on Jan. 23 (2300 GMT to 0100 GMT on Jan. 24) and on the daily backup dates, which run through early February. You can watch the liftoff here at Space.com when the time comes.

Rocket Lab's 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron launcher has flown more than 30 orbital missions to date, all of them from the company's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

"Virginia Is for Launch Lovers" will break in Launch Complex 2 as the first flight from the facility. The mission had been targeted to fly last month, but unfavorable weather pushed the liftoff into January.

On the upcoming launch, the expendable Electron will carry three radio-frequency surveillance satellites for Virginia-based company HawkEye 360. The three are the first of 15 HawkEye 360 satellites that Rocket Lab will loft over the course of three missions in 2023 and 2024.

"These missions will grow HawkEye 360's constellation of radio frequency monitoring satellites, enabling the company to better deliver precise mapping of radio frequency emissions anywhere in the world," Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description(opens in new tab).

Rocket Lab is working to make Electron's first stage reusable. The company has recovered and analyzed boosters after several previous missions, on one occasion even successfully plucking a returning Electron out of the sky with a helicopter. (That's Rocket Lab's desired recovery strategy, given that Electron is too small to have enough fuel left over after launch for powered Earth returns.)

However, there will be no recovery efforts on "Virginia Is for Launch Lovers," company representatives said.

Quelle: SC

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Update: 24.01.2023

Rocket Lab to launch 1st Electron booster from US tonight. Here's how to watch live.

Liftoff will occur during a two-hour window that opens at 6 p.m. ET.

Bad weather has pushed Rocket Lab's first-ever launch from U.S. soil back a day, to Tuesday (Jan. 24).

Rocket Lab had been targeting Monday (Jan. 23) for its "Virginia Is for Launch Lovers" mission, which will send an Electron rocket aloft from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia (hence the name). But Mother Nature didn't cooperate.

"Weather conditions have deteriorated at Wallops with rain and strong winds at LC-2 [Launch Complex 2], so we're now targeting Tuesday Jan 24th for our first Electron mission from Virginia," Rocket Lab said via Twitter(opens in new tab) on Sunday afternoon (Jan. 22).

The launch window on Tuesday runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST (2300 GMT to 0100 GMT on Jan. 24). You can watch the launch here at Space.com, courtesy of Rocket Lab, or directly via the company(opens in new tab).

People on or near the U.S. East Coast might be able to see "Virginia Is for Launch Lovers" with their own eyes, weather permitting. "From a distance, Electron will appear like a bright, fast-moving star in the sky," NASA Wallops officials said via Twitter earlier this month, in a post that included a visibility map(opens in new tab) for the upcoming launch.

The 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron has launched more than 30 orbital missions to date. All of them have lifted off from Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's North Island.

"Virginia Is for Launch Lovers" will end that antipodean monopoly, ushering in a new era for California-based Rocket Lab. The mission will launch to orbit three radio-frequency surveillance satellites for HawkEye 360, a Virginia-based company that provides customers with geospatial analytics data.

Rocket Lab will launch 12 more HawkEye 360 satellites over the course of three additional flights in 2023 and 2024.

Rocket Lab has recovered the first stage of the two-stage Electron during several previous missions, in one case even snagging the descending booster with a helicopter. Such work advances and informs the company's quest to make the Electron first stage reusable, something it aims to achieve in the relatively near future.

There will be no recovery effort on "Virginia Is for Launch Lovers," however; the first stage will ditch into the Atlantic Ocean, giving up its ghost at sea.

This isn't the first time the elements have interfered with this highly anticipated launch. Rocket Lab had planned to fly "Viriginia Is for Launch Lovers" in December 2022, but bad weather pushed the mission into January.

Quelle: SC

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MISSION OVERVIEW

The “Virginia is for Launch Lovers” mission will deploy satellites for leading radio frequency geospatial analytics provider HawkEye 360. It will be Rocket Lab’s first lift-off from Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility – a launch pad developed to support Electron missions from U.S. soil for government and commercial customers. The launch window has been set following recent progress by NASA in certifying its Autonomous Flight Termination Unit (NAFTU) software, which is required to enable Electron launches from Virginia.

Launch Complex 2 supplements Rocket Lab’s existing site, Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, from which 32 Electron missions have already launched. This extensive launch heritage already makes Electron the most frequently launched small orbital rocket globally, and now with two launch complexes combined, Rocket Lab can support more than 130 launch opportunities every year, delivering unmatched flexibility for rapid, responsive launch for government and commercial satellite operators. The launch pad and production complex for Rocket Lab’s large reusable Neutron launch vehicle will also be located at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, streamlining operations across small and large launch.

Quelle: Rocket Lab

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Update: 25.01.2023

ROCKET LAB'S FIRST MISSION FROM LAUNCH COMPLEX 2 (NASA WALLOPS) SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED JANUARY 24 AT 18:00 ET.