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"Made it to space. Team delighted. More to follow!" the U.S. company, founded by New Zealander Peter Beck, tweeted at 4:29 p.m. New Zealand time Thursday. It is the first test of the company's Electron Rocket from New Zealand, a country of just 4.7 million people deep in the South Pacific.
Rocket Lab aims to build a New Zealand base from which to launch small satellites into low orbit. The country is considered a prime location because rockets originating deep in the Southern Hemisphere can reach a wide range of Earth orbits.
[...] With a height of 17 meters and a diameter of 1.2 meters, and 3D-printed engines, the Electron Rocket is capable of carrying a maximum payload of 225 kilograms, according to Rocket Lab, whose investors include Lockheed Martin Corp.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 26 2017, @02:27AM (8 children)
Rocket Lab aims to build a New Zealand base from which to launch small satellites into low orbit. The country is considered a prime location because rockets originating deep in the Southern Hemisphere can reach a wide range of Earth orbits.
The Earth is a ball and orbits go all the way around so there's no difference between launching a rocket from deep in the Southern Hemisphere and launching one from deep in the Northern Hemisphere. Canada or Russia would be just as good.
In fact, it's expensive to launch rockets into orbits whose inclination is less than the latitude of the launch site, which is one reason why commercial satellites tend to get launched near the equator. So there are a lot of orbits for which New Zealand is a *lousy* launch site. It might be OK for certain kinds of polar orbits, but no better than any other site far from the equator.
But marketers have to spin!
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday May 26 2017, @04:17AM (5 children)
> Canada or Russia would be just as good.
Perhaps the advantage is that New Zealand is surrounded by ocean. At Baikonur,
-- http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur_downrange.html [russianspaceweb.com]
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday May 26 2017, @08:24AM (4 children)
There is the added advantage of not having to construct, or ship, your payload in, or to, the northern hemisphere. Great, if you're thinking of putting stuff into space and you're already based somewhere south of the equator.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday May 26 2017, @09:27AM (2 children)
According to someone's Web site, 88% of the Earth's people live in the Northern Hemisphere, and a hemisphere centred on New Zealand is less populated than one centred on the South Pole:
-- http://brilliantmaps.com/human-hemisphere/ [brilliantmaps.com]
I would guess that being distant from people, the site may be distant from manufacturing as well. Perhaps you were making that point facetiously? However I'd also guess than transporting rockets, satellites, fuel and such around the world by ship is not much of an impediment.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday May 26 2017, @11:08AM (1 child)
not facetious at all:
http://www.australianmanufacturing.com.au/tag/space-manufacturing [australianmanufacturing.com.au]
http://www.spaceindustry.com.au/ [spaceindustry.com.au]
http://www.acser.unsw.edu.au/ [unsw.edu.au]
https://northamerica.uq.edu.au/news_posts/uqs-scramjet-will-soon-be-launched-in-space/ [uq.edu.au]
there was also discussion about putting a launch location in North Queensland
http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/jol/2013/10/21/whatever-happened-to-the-cape-york-spaceport/ [qld.gov.au]
I suspect not having to risk your expensive satellite on a ship for a trip of thousands of miles may be attractive for potential space companies and researchers.
not to mention the cheaper flights, getting your staff to the launch pad.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday May 26 2017, @01:37PM
Thanks for explaining. I should have remembered Australia; there was a story about it not long ago.
/article.pl?sid=17/02/14/1845243 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 26 2017, @01:06PM
This is counter-balanced by the fact that you'd have to construct or ship your payload to New Zealand. Not a trivial undertaking for most of the world.
(Score: 3, Informative) by bob_super on Friday May 26 2017, @05:24AM
> Canada or Russia would be just as good.
I'll have to agree with Ars: They have the most beautiful launch site in the world...
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/05/a-new-zealand-rocket-company-has-successfully-taken-flight/ [arstechnica.com]
(Score: 2) by novak on Friday May 26 2017, @06:23PM
Some satellites are launched from near the equator, but many are not. Many of those benefiting from a equatorial launch are large comsats and the like headed out to geostationary orbits. Many of the small satellites which fit in a 225kg to LEO orbit are going into polar orbits.
novak