A rocket from small-satellite launch agency Rocket Lab failed to achieve orbit minutes after a profitable liftoff from New Zealand on Saturday, the corporate stated, dropping its payload of seven small satellites it had meant to hold to area.
“An issue was experienced today during Rocket Lab’s launch that caused the loss of the vehicle,” the corporate stated on Twitter, including extra info will likely be shared as obtainable.
“We are deeply sorry to the customers on board Electron,” the Auckland, New Zealand-based firm said. “The issue occurred late in the flight during the 2nd stage burn.”
Rocket Lab is one in every of a rising group of launch firms seeking to slash the price of sending shoebox-sized satellites to low Earth orbit, constructing smaller rockets and reinventing conventional manufacturing strains to satisfy a rising payload demand.
The rocket’s altitude peaked at 121 miles (195 km) roughly seven minutes after liftoff earlier than rapidly lowering, in accordance with in-flight telemetry on the corporate’s reside video feed.
It was aiming to ship 5 tiny Earth imaging satellites from Planet Labs, one microsatellite from Canon Electronics, and a cubesat from British firm In-Space Missions right into a sun-synchronous orbit 310 miles above Earth.
The failed mission, the corporate’s 13th payload launch, had been named “Pics Or It Didn’t Happen”.
“While it’s never the outcome that we hope for, the risk of launch failure is one Planet is always prepared for,” Planet Labs stated in a press release on Saturday, including it appeared “forward to flying on the Electron again” sooner or later.
© Thomson Reuters 2020
Discover more from News Journals
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
