from the It-would-have-worked-but-someone-failed-to-remove-the-lens-cap dept.
Rocket Lab’s 13th Launch Fails to Reach Orbit After Unknown Problem
‘We Lost The Flight’ - Rocket Lab’s 13th Launch Fails To Reach Orbit After Unknown Problem:
Today, Saturday, July 4 at 9.21 P.M. Eastern Time, the company’s “Pics Or It Didn’t Happen” mission lifted off as planned from the company’s Launch Complex 1 on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand.
The primary payload on board was CE-SAT-1B, a satellite for Japanase[sic] company Canon Electronics. Also on the mission was the Faraday-1 satellite for U.K. company In-Space Missions, as well as five satellites for the U.S. Earth imaging company Planet.
The goal was to place the satellites into an orbit 500 kilometers above Earth. However, while the launch took place as planned, including separation of the second stage of the rocket, something subsequently went wrong.
[...] Problems emerged about six minutes into the flight, when a live video from the rocket was interrupted. The speed of the rocket then began to fall, along with a drop in altitude, before the mission’s failure was announced.
[...] The exact cause of the failure is not yet known. However, it is the company’s first failure on one of its commercial missions since it began full operations more than three years ago.
After a Second Stage Failure, Rocket Lab Loses Seven Satellites
After a second stage failure, Rocket Lab loses seven satellites:
On Sunday morning, local time in New Zealand, Rocket Lab launched its 13th mission. The booster's first stage performed normally, but just as the second stage neared an altitude of 200km, something went wrong and the vehicle was lost.
[...] "We lost the flight late into the mission," said Peter Beck, the company's founder and chief executive, on Twitter. "I am incredibly sorry that we failed to deliver our customers satellites today. Rest assured we will find the issue, correct it and be back on the pad soon."
The mission, dubbed "Pics Or It Didn't Happen," carried 5 SuperDove satellites for the imaging company Planet, as well as commercial payloads both for Canon Electronics and In-Space Missions.
"The In-Space team is absolutely gutted by this news," the company said after the loss. Its Faraday-1 spacecraft hosted multiple experiments within a 6U CubeSat. "Two years of hard work from an incredibly committed group of brilliant engineers up in smoke. It really was a very cool little spacecraft."
Rocket Lab Electron launch fails to reach orbit, 7 satellites lost
Rocket Lab Electron launch fails to reach orbit, 7 satellites lost:
A Rocket Lab Electron booster failed to reach orbit while attempting to launch seven small satellites for three different customers on Saturday (July 4).
The two-stage Electron booster rose off the pad at Rocket Lab's New Zealand launch site at 5:19 p.m. EST (0919 GMT; 9:19 p.m. local New Zealand time), carrying seven Earth-imaging satellites aloft, including five payloads for satellite-imaging company Planet, as well as a satellite for Canon Electronics and one for UK-based In-Space Missions. But a problem during the rocket's second-stage engine burn led to the loss of all seven payloads.
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck apologized for the failure on Twitter. "I am incredibly sorry that we failed to deliver our customers satellites today," he wrote on Twitter. "Rest assured we will find the issue, correct it and be back on the pad soon."
Video: Watch the Rocket Lab launch just before it failed to reach orbit
The launch seemed to proceed as planned for the first crucial minutes of flight. Then, about six minutes into the launch, the live video feed from the rocket froze. At that point, the company's live broadcast showed that the rocket started to lose speed, and altitude. It was then that Rocket Lab cut the live video feed.
[...] Rocket Lab was originally scheduled to launch this Electron on Friday (July 3), but delayed the flight to Sunday (July 5) due to bad weather.. But a new weather outlook prompted Rocket Lab to move the launch one day earlier — a rarity in the spaceflight industry. (Typically launch dates move further out, rather than forward.)
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
Related Stories
Rocket Lab will resume missions in August following launch failure:
Rocket Lab's Electron vehicle will resume ferrying satellites and other payloads to space this month. The FAA has given the company the go-ahead to launch Electron rockets again after figuring out why its 13th mission ended in failure. [...] The company launched an investigation with the FAA and managed to pinpoint the culprit: an anomalous electrical connection.
Apparently, one of the rocket's electrical connections was "intermittently secure through flight," increasing resistance and causing the component to heat up and expand. That, in turn, caused surrounding components to liquefy, which led to the electrical system's disconnection and ultimately to the engine's shutdown a few minutes into the second stage burn.
[...] Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said in a statement:
"The issue occurred under incredibly specific and unique circumstances, causing the connection to fail in a way that we wouldn't detect with standard testing. Our team has now reliably replicated the issue in test and identified that it can be mitigated through additional testing and procedures."
The next Electron launch doesn't have an exact date yet, but it will take off from Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.
Previously:
After a Second Stage Failure, Rocket Lab Loses Seven Satellites
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.
Previously (company history as seen on SN):
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
Launch of Rocket Lab's Second "Electron" Rocket Due Dec. 7-8
Rocket Lab's Second "Electron" Rocket Launch Succeeds, Reaches Orbit
Rocket Lab's Electron Rocket Launched "Humanity Star", a Temporary Source of Light Pollution
Rocket Lab Set to Launch Commercial Payloads on April 20
NASA Awards Launch Contracts to Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit
Rocket Lab Plans to Build its Next Launch Site in the US
Rocket Lab to Build U.S. Launch Site at Wallops Island, Virginia
Rocket Lab's Modest Launch is Giant Leap for Small Rocket Business
Rocket Lab Set to Launch its First Payloads for NASA
Rocket Lab Mission for NASA Successfully Launches 13 CubeSats
Rocket Lab Successfully Launches R3D2 Mission for DARPA
Rocket Lab Will Build Satellites for Launch Customers
Rocket Lab Will Attempt to Recover First Stages Using a Helicopter
Rocket Lab's Guided Reentry Test Moves Company Closer to Partially Reusable Rockets
NASA Selects 18 Research CubeSats as Secondary Payloads; Rocket Lab Will Send CubeSat to Lunar Orbit
After a Second Stage Failure, Rocket Lab Loses Seven Satellites
Rocket Lab Will Resume Missions in August Following Launch Failure
Rocket Lab Secretly Launched its Own Company-made Satellite on Latest Flight
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday July 05 2020, @12:48PM
I do hope they get through this rough patch - failures are expected in space operations, but they can have a really big impact on smaller companies.
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(Score: 2) by gringer on Sunday July 05 2020, @12:51PM
I noticed them claiming on the video feed that this launch was the fastest turnaround time for the launch site. I wonder if this led them to overlook something obvious, like checking to make sure the spare batteries were loaded in the right way round.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2020, @12:53PM (2 children)
They knew it was their 13th launch, so they should have brought Tom Hanks along for the ride.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2020, @01:22PM (1 child)
Many tall buildings have no 13th floor.
(Score: 2) by EETech1 on Monday July 06 2020, @06:45AM
In my town the street between 12th and 14th isn't 13th!
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Sunday July 05 2020, @02:05PM (2 children)
This is what insurance is for.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2020, @03:42PM (1 child)
I bet their rates just went up.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday July 05 2020, @10:17PM
I heard Peter Beck apologizing on the radio yesterday, and I got the impression that the satellite owner is responsible for insurance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2020, @06:15PM
for you are not the one true skynet, so sayeth the lord!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2020, @06:43PM (2 children)
It's a shame USA has let private companies replace good old government ingenuity in space. As President, Kanye West will ensure that the USA gets higher than ever before when he appoints Snoop Dogg as secretary of health.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2020, @07:00PM
No, we should follow the Ideocracy script: Mia Khalifa for president
(Score: 3, Funny) by sjames on Monday July 06 2020, @04:57AM
So if he gets elected, does every American get free fishsticks?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2020, @07:54PM (1 child)
they're in a smoking heap in my backyard!
(Score: 2) by leon_the_cat on Sunday July 05 2020, @10:39PM
lucky, scrap value gottra be worth more than your house