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posted by janrinok on Wednesday October 07 2015, @04:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the to-infinity-and-beyond dept.

Space startup Moon Express has signed a contract with Rocket Lab to help carry out three lunar missions starting in 2017. Described as the first private contract between two companies to carry out a lunar landing, the agreement will see Rocket Lab provide launch services using its Electron rocket system for the Moon Express MX-1 lunar lander as part of Moon Express's attempt win the Google Lunar Xprize.

The contract stipulates that Rocket Lab will provide services for two launches of the MX-1 lander in 2017 and a third at a date yet to be determined. These will be conducted from either Rocket Lab's New Zealand facilities or an American launch site. The Moon Express MX-1 lander is a scalable 600 kg (1,320 lb) spacecraft that can be sent to the Moon either directly or using low-energy trajectories. Its purpose is not only to conduct scientific missions, but also to deliver commercial payloads to the lunar surface at lower costs.

Life imitates art.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Rocket Lab Makes Suborbital Launch From New Zealand 12 comments

"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.

Bloomberg

Related stories:
Vector Space Completes First Test Flight, Hoping to Expand the Small Satellite Launch Market
"Planet" Purchases 3 Launches from "Rocket Lab"
New Companies Begin to Target the Micro-Satellite Market
Moon Express and Rocket Lab Team Up for 2017 Lunar Mission
Rocket Lab Unveils "Electric" Rocket Engine


Original Submission

Launch of Rocket Lab's Second "Electron" Rocket Due Dec. 7-8 1 comment

Rocket Lab to launch second orbital-class rocket as soon as next week

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket is designed to carry small satellites to orbit, targeting a market niche microsatellite owners say is currently under-served by larger, more expensive boosters. Using nine first stage engines and a single upper stage powerplant, the rocket can deliver up to 330 pounds (150 kilograms) of payload to at 310-mile-high (500-kilometer) sun-synchronous polar orbit.

The upcoming launch will be the second by an Electron rocket. The Electron's inaugural test flight May 25 reached space after a successful first stage burn and second stage ignition, but a data reception error with ground tracking equipment prompted an early termination of the mission for safety reasons.

[...] Backed by U.S. and New Zealand venture capital funds, and investment from the New Zealand government and U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, Rocket Lab says it will sell future Electron rocket missions for $4.9 million per flight. The Electron is sized to provide a dedicated ride for small satellites that today must ride piggyback on bigger launchers.

Rocket Lab.

According to SpaceFlightNow's Launch Schedule: "Launch window: 0130-0530 GMT on 8th (8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. EST on 7th/8th)

Previously: Rocket Lab Unveils "Electric" Rocket Engine
Moon Express and Rocket Lab Team Up for 2017 Lunar Mission
New Companies Begin to Target the Micro-Satellite Market
"Planet" Purchases 3 Launches from "Rocket Lab"
Rocket Lab Makes Suborbital Launch From New Zealand

Related: Vector Space Completes First Test Flight, Hoping to Expand the Small Satellite Launch Market
Vector Space Systems Partners With Virginia Space for Launches


Original Submission

Lunar X Prize Could Continue Without Google, or Even the Prizes 5 comments

Although the Google Lunar X Prize ended without any teams landing rovers on the Moon, some teams still intended to complete the mission. Now the X Prize Foundation has announced that the competition will continue without prize money, although a new sponsor could change that:

Just a few days after the Google Lunar X Prize ended without a winner, the X Prize Foundation announced today that it's relaunching its competition to send a private spacecraft to the Moon. The competition will be "non-cash," meaning it won't have prize money for whichever team first completes its mission to the lunar surface — at least for now. The foundation is looking for a new sponsor that can replace Google and provide funding.

"We are extraordinarily grateful to Google for funding the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE between September 2007 and March 31st, 2018. While that competition is now over, there are at least five teams with launch contracts that hope to land on the Lunar surface in the next two years," Peter H. Diamandis, X Prize founder and executive chairman, said in a statement. "Because of this tremendous progress, and near-term potential, XPRIZE is now looking for our next visionary Title Sponsor who wants to put their logo on these teams and on the lunar surface."

One of the teams, Moon Express, had contracted with Rocket Lab to launch a payload to the Moon using an Electron rocket, but Rocket Lab only reached Earth orbit for the first time in January 2018.

Previously: Moon Express and Rocket Lab Team Up for 2017 Lunar Mission
Google Lunar XPrize Deadline Revised; New Prizes Available


Original Submission

Rocket Lab Plans to Go Public, Announces Much Larger "Neutron" Rocket 4 comments

Rocket Lab plans to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), become a publicly traded company, and develop a medium-lift partially reusable rocket. "Neutron" would be competitive with SpaceX's Falcon 9 and capable of launching cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.

The funding from the SPAC merger will enable another new initiative. Rocket Lab said it is working on a medium-class launch vehicle called Neutron, capable of placing up to 8,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit, more than 20 times the capacity of Electron. The company disclosed few technical details about Neutron, but said that it intends to make the first stage reusable through propulsive landing on an ocean platform, similar to SpaceX's recovery of Falcon 9 first stages.

The new vehicle is intended to support the growing interest in satellite megaconstellations. "Neutron's eight-ton lift capacity will make it ideally sized to deploy satellites in batches to specific orbital planes, creating a more targeted and streamlined approach to building out megaconstellations," Beck said in the statement.

Rocket Lab had previously resisted building a larger vehicle. "There's no market for it," Beck said during a side session of the Smallsat Conference in August 2020. "If you build a larger rocket, you relegate yourself to being purely rideshare, and rideshare is really well-served."

The first Neutron launch is scheduled for 2024 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. The vehicle will leverage the infrastructure the company built at Launch Complex 2 there for the Electron rocket, which will make its debut from that pad later this year. Rocket Lab said it's "assessing locations across America" for a factory that would handle large-scale production of Neutron.

Press release.

Also at The Verge and CNBC.

Previously (company history as seen on SN):


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by gman003 on Wednesday October 07 2015, @04:55AM

    by gman003 (4155) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @04:55AM (#246342)

    I know progress relies on doing things that haven't been done before, but once again, I have to say I don't think this is going to actually happen.

    Rocket Lab has yet to put a craft into orbit. They have only produced and launched suborbital sounding rockets. They seem to be quite good at that, but there's a world of difference between a sounding rocket and an orbital rocket, and it's another big leap from low earth orbit to translunar injection.

    They expect to launch their first orbital rocket in Q3 2016. If they were planning to launch into a low orbit, that would actually not be too unreasonable. But their first launch, and most of their early launches, is targeting a heliosynchronous orbit - which is a high orbit, although not as high as geosynchronous.

    And they don't seem to have much of a plan. You can buy a slot now on their launches out to 2019 - but they don't explain how they're getting to SSO with only two stages (or if the payload carrier has its own propulsion), and they don't provide any details about the orbit it'll be placed in, other than altitude and that it's supposed to be sun-synchronous (which implies certain parameters but leaves some important ones open). Other orbits are described only by inclination - no altitude or eccentricity or anything.

    Getting your first rocket into orbit is hard. National and international space programs are about 50/50 on their first launch. Those that succeed immediately, usually either over-engineered everything regardless of cost (USSR, USA) or spent many years methodically preparing (ESA). Rocket Lab is using many cutting-edge technologies to bring cost down, so they aren't over-engineering it all. They also are on a fairly aggressive schedule. Right now, I wouldn't bet too much on their first launch succeeding, much less being able to inject something into lunar orbit.

    • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Wednesday October 07 2015, @07:11AM

      by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @07:11AM (#246366)

      https://xkcd.com/1244/ [xkcd.com]

      Sounding rockets to a heliosynchronous orbit? Yeah, someone plays to much KSP over there......

      --
      Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
    • (Score: 2) by pixeldyne on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:38AM

      by pixeldyne (2637) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:38AM (#246380)

      Do you know how many ballistic/suborbital launches theyve tested? Yeah I know, I should do my own research but you seem to know what theyre up to.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by pixeldyne on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:35AM

    by pixeldyne (2637) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:35AM (#246379)

    I cant tell if the 600kg is dry mass or includes propellants for powered descent. The article implies that TLI vehicle is not included (mention of low energy trajectories could imply electric propulsion??) or maybe the idea is to use the Electron vehicle itself to put the lander on a trajectory to the moon. 100 payloads a year would suggest resupplying missions, delivering small satellites or maybe components for a vehicle thats assembled in orbit? I wonder what the single launch cost is and what is the max payload mass per launch. Id prefer if the launch vehicle was scalable itself, for example adding more engines, stretching, perhaps solid state boosters.

    I dont want to sound cynical, I wish them all the best, just disappointed that the article reads like a press release for potential investors.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by geb on Wednesday October 07 2015, @03:33PM

      by geb (529) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @03:33PM (#246474)

      Rocket Lab claims a maximum payload of 150kg to sun synchronous orbit. As a rough guess, I think that means about 250kg to LEO. I'm pretty sure the 600kg figure must be a mistake, unless Moon Express are putting their own custom built third stage under the probe.

      It's hard to find a reliable source for the mass of their lander design. The only measurement they give on their website describes the lander as "about the size of a coffee table". It does say that the lander makes its own departure from LEO though.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:47PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:47PM (#246595)

      reads like a press release for potential investors.

      DING DING DING!!! Give that man a cigar!