WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab successfully launched a Japanese radar imaging satellite on the primary flight of its Electron rocket since a failure nearly three months ago.
The Electron rocket lifted off from the corporate’s Launch Complex 1 in Latest Zealand at 11:05 p.m. Eastern Dec. 14. The vehicle deployed its payload, the QPS-SAR-5 or Tsukuyomi-1 satellite for Japanese company iQPS, nearly 57 minutes after liftoff right into a 575-kilometer orbit.
The launch was the primary for Electron since a Sept. 19 failure during a launch of one other radar imaging satellite for Capella Space. On that mission, the primary stage performed as expected however the engine of the second stage appeared to shut down immediately after ignition, stopping it from reaching orbit.
An investigation concluded that an “unexpected electrical arc” inside the upper stage’s power supply shorted the battery packs and caused a lack of power. That arc, the corporate said, was the results of a “largely improbable” combination of events that included a ripple voltage within the system and an undetectable flaw in insulation.
Rocket Lab addressed the issue by improved ground tests to higher detect arcing problems in addition to pressurizing the battery frame section of the upper stage to stop arcing conditions from forming.
The launch was the tenth flight of the Electron this yr, including one launch of a suborbital version of Electron called HASTE. That exceeds the record the corporate set last yr of nine Electron launches.
That milestone is “further cementing Electron’s position because the leading small launch vehicle globally,” Peter Beck, chief executive of Rocket Lab, said in an announcement. He noted that Electron is the second most continuously launched American rocket this yr — albeit a distant second after the SpaceX Falcon 9. “We stay up for constructing on that record with an excellent busier yr of launches in 2024.”
In a Nov. 8 earnings call, Beck said the corporate has a manifest of twenty-two Electron launches in 2024, including two HASTE suborbital missions. “We now have a very sold-out manifest for next yr at a number that is de facto solid,” he said, referring to the common price the corporate charged for those launches.
The shopper for the launch, iQPS or Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, is developing a constellation of 36 satellites to offer synthetic aperture radar imagery. The corporate went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Dec. 6, raising about $24 million.
The QPS-SAR-5 satellite was originally scheduled to launch early this yr on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne. Nevertheless, Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy in April and shortly thereafter was liquidated. In August, iQPS signed a contract with Rocket Lab to launch the satellite, only to be delayed by the Electron launch failure.
Rocket Lab didn’t immediately announce the schedule for the subsequent Electron launch. Within the November earnings call, the corporate said it expected to perform two Electron launches through the top of the yr, but this launch was postponed from late November to finish preparations, including a wet dress rehearsal test.