Rocket Lab USA, Inc., a global leader in launch services and space systems, launched its 45th Electron rocket, successfully deploying a fourth synthetic aperture radar satellite to Synspective’s Earth-observation constellation.
“Owl Night Long,” a dedicated mission for Synspective, launched from Pad B at Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 04:03 NZDT March 13, 2024 (15:03 UTC, March 12). The mission delivered a single spacecraft, the StriX-3 satellite, to a 561km Sun Synchronous Orbit, where it joined Synspective’s growing constellation.
Rocket Lab has been the sole launch provider for Synspective’s constellation, previously delivering three satellites across launches in September 2022, February 2022, and December 2020. Rocket Lab will launch two more missions for Synspective as part of a multi-launch agreement signed in 2023.
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“Owl Night Long” was Rocket Lab’s third Electron mission of 2024. Rocket Lab’s next launch is scheduled to liftoff no earlier than March 20th from Launch Complex 2 in Wallops, Virginia for the National Reconnaissance Office.
Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with an established track record of mission success. We deliver reliable launch services, satellite manufacture, spacecraft components, and on-orbit management solutions that make it faster, easier, and more affordable to access space. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small orbital launch vehicle, the Photon satellite platform, and the Company is developing the large Neutron launch vehicle for constellation deployment. Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered 178 satellites to orbit for private and public sector organizations, enabling operations in national security, scientific research, space debris mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring, and communications.
Synspective, established in 2018, is an end-to-end SAR satellite data and solution provider with the mission to realize a learning world for people to expand their capabilities and make tangible progress with new data and technologies.
SOURCE: Businesswire