Launch Date: 04:37 (BJT) March 1, 2022
Launch Location: LC-1B Launch Pad, Mahia, New Zealand
Launch Vehicle: E-rocket
Launch payload: Synspective StriX-β satellite
Launch mission name: The Owl's Night Continues
This launch is the first of Electronic Rocket's 2022 launch missions. strong> Electron Rocket's first launch of 2022 and the cumulative 24th launch of Rocket Lab's Electron Rocket.
The name of the mission is "The Owl's Night Continues". The name pays homage to the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites of Synspective's StriX, a genus of owls with exceptional vision. The spacecraft can image millimeter-scale changes in the Earth's surface from space, and the satellite's imaging is unaffected by surface weather conditions.
The StriX-β satellite is a SAR satellite from Japanese startup Synspective.
Synspective has already launched StriX-α in December 2020 on the "The Owl's Night Begins" mission. Using both strip and sliding beam modes of observation, StriX-α provides images with up to 1 meter resolution. The strip mode has a swath width of 30 kilometers and the sliding beam has a swath width of 10 kilometers. StriX-α has a medium weight of about 150kg and operates in a 500km sun-synchronous orbit. Its SAR antenna is about 5m long when deployed in orbit and the ground resolution is expected to be 1~3m.(Owl's Night Out: E-rocket Launch of Japan's SAR Satellite)
StriX-β is Synspective's second Earth Observation Radar (EOR) demonstration satellite that uses the X-band to provide 24-hour continuous monitoring. The demo satellite has a mass of about 100 kilograms and is equipped with two solar arrays. The satellite has a 5-meter long synthetic aperture radar antenna that folds up during launch.
StriX-β will be launched into a 561km high sun-synchronous orbit, revisiting a sun-synchronous return orbit with a one-day periodicity, capturing images of specific locations on Earth every 24 hours at the same time and under the same conditions. This will allow the satellite to track any changes and trends occurring at specific locations on the Earth's surface. The company plans to launch its first commercial prototype satellite, StriX-1, later this year, increasing the number of satellites to six by 2023.
Synspective is not the only company planning to launch a small SAR constellation. Similar companies include ICEYE in Finland and Capella in the US.
Artistic concept of Capella's SAR satellite
Artistic concept of ICEYE's SAR satellite
Rocket Lab's TheOwl's Night Continues. Night Continues" mission, which will be the first mission from the company's new launch pad in Mahia, New Zealand. Rocket Lab's CEO said the new pad will double the frequency of e-rocket launches.
The new pad, called Launch Complex 1, Pad B, or LC-1B for short, is just 117 meters from the LC-1A pad. The rocket launch pad has been used for all 23 e-rocket launch missions to date, according to a company spokesperson.
"With two launch pads, we have doubled our capacity to the ultimate launch flexibility," said Shaun D'mello, Rocket Lab's vice president of launch. "This means we have a platform ready to go when our customers need us." Peter Baker, Rocket Lab's founder and CEO, said the company built this new launch pad to allow for a higher cadence of launch missions. The new launch pad, LC-1B, is essentially a replica of the LC-1A launch pad with minor improvements."
Rocket Lab is a U.S.-based company that builds and launches rockets in New Zealand. It has been one of the more successful companies in the new wave of companies entering the small satellite launch industry, with a number of contracts from commercial customers, the U.S. military and NASA. Rocket Lab is also diversifying its business into space operations and satellite manufacturing.
The E-Rocket is 18 meters tall and can put small satellites into orbit. According to Rocket Lab, the e-rocket can send 200 kilograms into a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit In 2017, Rocket Lab began launching the e-rocket from the Mahia private spaceport, located on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. Launches from there can launch payloads into orbits with inclinations greater than 30. A dedicated e-rocket costs about $7 million , which is much cheaper than larger rockets. But larger rockets, such as SpaceX's Falcon 9, can deploy heavier cargo, gather numerous small satellites in a carpool mission, and split the cost of a single launch among multiple customers.
Rocket Lab is developing a next-generation rocket called the Neutron that can carry a heavier payload than the Electron. It's scheduled to debut in 2024 with a reusable first stage to better compete with rockets like the Falcon 9. Until the neutron rocket is in service, Rocket Lab will continue to launch Electron on two launch pads in New Zealand and a new launch site in Wallops, Virginia.
The LC-1B launch pad has its own fuel storage tanks for kerosene and liquid oxygen used by the E-rockets. Mahia's two rocket launch pads are independent of each other, but *** use a rocket integration hangar and launch satellite processing room. The two pads can support two e-rocket launches in a single day, Baker said.