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Electron NLV |
Rocket Lab Ltd.
2019, Dec. 06 -- A recovering
of Electron`s first stage is not planed from the mission 10, but the stage has new
guidance and navigation hardware, plus a reaction control system to orient the stage
during re-entry. The stage plummets back to Earth at approx. mach 8.5. That�s more
than 2.3 km meters per second. The focus is on monitoring the stage as it comes
back to Earth so can better understand the reentry environments it needs to survive.
The data will help to inform first efforts to recover a stage next year.
2018, Nov. 10 --
Rocket Lab successfully launched its Electron rocket
a first commercial mission. The two-stage rocket released an upper stage, called
"Photon", into orbit nine minutes after liftoff. Photon ignited its engine "Curie"
51 minutes after liftoff to go into a circular 500-kilometer orbit at an
inclination of 85 degrees. Three minutes later it released its payload of some small
satellites.
2018, Jan. 21 --
Rocket Lab's Electron rocket entered the orbit after
its succeeded second test launch. Electron carried three cubesats and
test instrumentation (space tug) on this flight.
2017, May 25
-- RocketLab successfully carried out the first test flight of its Electron rocket.
"It was a great flight,� said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab�s CEO. �We had a great first
stage burn, stage separation, second stage ignition and fairing separation. We didn�t
quite reach orbit and we�ll be investigating why.
The first stage engines were scheduled to switch off at 2 minutes, 30 seconds,
followed by first stage separation around four seconds later. A single modified
Rutherford engine on the Electron�s second stage was programmed to ignite for nearly
five minutes to drive the launcher into an orbit between 300 and 500 kilometers
above Earth.
Rocket Lab is an American company with a subsidiary and head
office in Auckland, New Zealand. Rocket Lab founded in 2007 by New Zealander, Peter
Beck. The company is focused on delivering innovative, high quality technologies
to the space industry.
Rocket Lab was the first private company to reach space in the southern hemisphere
in 2009 with its Atea 1 suborbital sounding rocket. Following this success the company
won contracts with aerospace giants Lockheed Martin, DARPA and Aeroject Rocketdyne.
July, 2014
Rocket Lab announced its plan to revolutionize the global space industry with the
creation of a small two-stage space launcher "Electron", a lightweight,
cost-effective rocket to launch small satellites into orbit.
Rocket Lab is building the world�s first carbon-composite launch vehicle at its
Auckland, New Zealand facility.
The Electron launcher is 18m in length, 1m diameter and will weigh more than 10
tons. This will be the first vehicle of its class capable of delivering payloads
up to 100kg into low Earth orbits (LEO).
Rocket Lab�s experience in highly innovative propulsion systems has lead to the
engine Rutherford, a regeneratively cooled liquid rocket engine, and the
heart of the Electron launch vehicle. With the first test fires in December 2013
began the characterization phase of the engine program.
Electron facts: � Lift off mass: 12,550kg � Propellant mass: 11,300kg � Propellants: Kerosene and Liquid Oxygen � Length: 17m � Diameter: 1.2m � Top speed: 27,500kph � First stage engines thrust (s.l./vac) : 153.5 / 184.6 kN (9 engines) � Second stage engine thrust (vac) : 22.2 kN � Nominal orbit: 500km circular sun synchronous � Nominal payload: 150kg
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