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A Rocket Lab Electron rocket takes off from its launch pad on New Zealand’s Mahia peninsula. Photo Courtesy of Rocket Lab
July 13 (UPI) — Rocket Lab, a California-based company, plans to launch seven small satellites to gather data on Earth’s atmosphere for improved weather forecasting, replace an outdated spacecraft, and deploy twin navigation satellites. This mission, dubbed “Baby Come Back” by Rocket Lab, is scheduled for launch as early as Monday from New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.
However, there is a possibility of the launch being delayed by up to two weeks.
Rocket Lab will once again attempt to recover the first stage of the rocket, which will parachute into the ocean and be retrieved by a specialized ship. The booster will then undergo analysis and, if possible, refurbishment at Rocket Lab’s production complex.
Unlike SpaceX, Rocket Lab does not currently have the capability to land boosters on a recovery ship or on land. It has previously made two attempts to recover boosters mid-air using helicopters, but both attempts were unsuccessful. In the first try, the helicopter dropped the booster into the sea, while the second attempt was called off due to a temporary telemetry data loss.
For now, Rocket Lab will continue to recover boosters from the ocean. “Extensive analysis of returned stages shows that Electron withstands an ocean splashdown….” said a company statement. “As a result, Rocket Lab is moving forward with marine operations as the primary method of recovering Electron for re-flight.”
NASA will be conducting tests with four CubeSat spacecraft as part of this launch. These tests will focus on swarm technology, which demonstrates how satellites can collaborate on various tasks through in-space network communications and navigation between spacecraft. The testing will also include autonomous maneuvering to study the performance of small spacecraft in independent observations, which can support future science missions.
The two twin 3U satellites provided by Spire Global Inc., based in Virginia, will observe in real-time how Earth’s turbulent atmosphere interacts with radio waves from GPS satellites. This data will contribute to improving the accuracy of long-term weather forecasts.
In addition to these scientific missions, a technology demonstration satellite from Telesat, a Canadian provider, will be deployed to replace a decommissioned prototype. This will enable Telesat to continue providing services to customers through its broadband constellation of low Earth orbit satellites.
Unlike geostationary satellites that orbit Earth at an altitude of 22,300 miles, low Earth orbit satellites, located a few hundred miles above the planet, can also function as communication satellites. However, multiple low Earth orbit satellites are required due to their limited data capacity for relaying TV transmissions.
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