Rocket Labs The Owl Spreads Its Wings mission set for launch

Date:
Thu, 15 Sep 2022 15:52:01 +0000

Description:
Rocket Lab is preparing an Electron rocket for the company and the rockets 30th flight. The post Rocket Labs The Owl Spreads Its Wings mission set for launch appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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Rocket Lab is preparing an Electron rocket for the company and the rockets 30th flight. The Owl Spreads Its Wings, the companys third dedicated flight for Japanese company Synspective, is scheduled for launch to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) on Thursday, Sept. 15, during a 15-minute window starting at
20:30 UTC.

The Owl Spreads Its Wings will see Electron launch its 150th satellite since the rockets first flight in 2017. This flight will also mark the 300th flight of a Rutherford engine, which powers Electrons first and second stages. The launch will take place from Rocket Labs private spaceport at Mahia, New Zealand, using the companys Launch Complex-1B (LC-1B) launch pad.



LC-1B is the second launch pad to be built at Mahia, with the first, LC-1A, located just a couple hundred feet away from LC-1B. The pad made its launch debut earlier this year with The Owls Night Continues, also for Synspective, on Feb. 28, 2022. Rocket Lab is planning to use both pads at Mahia alongside their new launch site at Wallops Island, Virginia in the United States for future Electron operations.

This flight will launch Synspectives first commercial Earth-observation satellite. StriX-1 follows on the heels of the StriX- (StriX Alpha) and
(StriX Beta) demonstration satellites launched by Electron missions in Dec. 2020 and Feb. 2022. StriX-1 will be the first of a planned constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Earth observation satellites. Payload integration of the StriX-1 satellite into Electrons payload fairing. (Credit: Synspective)

The StriX-1 satellite, massing approximately 100 kilograms, is a satellite capable of observing Earth through clouds or under conditions of darkness thanks to its X-band SAR capability. StriX-1s resolution is three meters in stripmap mode with a 30-kilometer swath or one meter in sliding spotlight
mode with a 10-kilometer swath.

StriX-1 is the first of a planned constellation of 30 SAR satellites. The
full constellation is scheduled to be operational around 2026, with the next three satellites scheduled for launch in 2023. After the first six satellites are launched, the constellation will be able to observe natural disasters around the world within 24 hours. See Also The Owl Spreads Its Wings Updates Rocket Lab Forum Section L2 MasterSection Click here to Join L2

Synspective plans to offer services related to disaster monitoring, hazard mitigation, forestry, urban infrastructure, and many other customer needs. Japanese company Tokyo Keiki Inc is planning to head the construction of the satellites used in the constellation. Tokyo Keiki, already a supplier of Synspectives microwave power amplifier modules on its satellites, will build
a new factory and clean room for satellite assembly in the coming years.

The 18-meter high and 1.2-meter wide Electron rocket uses liquid kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellants, with propellant loading starting several hours before launch. A pre-launch poll will be conducted at T-12 minutes, and if the poll is GO, terminal count will start at T-10 minutes. Electron will then launch at T0 with the power of its nine sea-level
optimized Rutherford engines on its first stage.

After Electron reaches maximum aerodynamic pressure (Max Q) at approximately T+1:20, the next major ascent milestone will be main engine cutoff (MECO) and stage separation at around T+2:30. The fairing, which was custom-built to accommodate Synspectives satellites, will separate around the T+3:00 mark. A single vacuum-optimized Rutherford engine will power the second stage, the kick stage, and the satellite to a parking orbit.

The kick stage will place the StriX-1 satellite into a 563-kilometer high orbit inclined 97 degrees to the equator. This orbit will enable StriX-1 to pass over any given point on the globe at the same local mean solar time, ensuring consistent lighting conditions on the surface. The satellite will deploy its five-meter-long antenna once in orbit, which contains solar panels on the two wings of the antenna. Electrons launch profile for The Owl Spread Its Wings. (Credit: Rocket Lab)

The Electron for The Owl Spreads Its Wings will not be recovered. The next Electron recovery attempt is planned for later this year, as part of Rocket Labs plan to reuse Electrons first stages to reduce the price of its
launches. A recovered Electron from a previous flight was recently successfully test-fired a step forward in Rocket Labs Electron reuse plans.

The Owl Spreads Its Wings is the second in a series of three dedicated missions bought by Synspective following the StriX- launch in 2020. The next dedicated Synspective flight is scheduled for sometime in 2023. Synspective chose to purchase dedicated flights so that it could enable specific LTANs (Local Time of the Ascending Node) that would not be available with rideshare missions.

The launch of The Owl Spreads Its Wings will mark Rocket Labs seventh launch in 2022. The next flight after The Owl Spreads Its Wings is currently planned to be the launch of the HawkEye 360 Flight 1 payload, set to be launched from the new Wallops Launch Complex-2, which is preparing to become an operational launch site after an extended period of work to confirm Electrons AFTS (automated flight termination system) capabilities from the site. The launch of the HawkEye 360 Flight 1 payload is scheduled for no earlier than December 2022.

(Lead image: Electron at Launch Complex 1B ahead of the CAPSTONE mission. Credit: Rocket Lab)

The post Rocket Labs The Owl Spreads Its Wings mission set for launch
appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2022/09/the-owl-spreads-its-wings/


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