NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

Make It Rain

Launch Time
Sat Jun 29, 2019 04:30 UTC

Rocket

Electron/Curie
Image Credit: Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab
Status: Active
Price: $7.5 million
Liftoff Thrust: 224 kN
Payload to LEO: 320 kg
Stages: 3
Strap-ons: 0
Rocket Height: 18.0 m
Fairing Diameter: 1.2 m
Fairing Height: 4.05 m

Mission Details

BlackSky 3

BlackSky Global 3 is the third of sixty high resolution earth observation microsatellites in the BlackSky constellation. This constellation will provide real-time earth observation. the constellation is built by Blacksky, a SpaceFlight Subsidiary, and the satellites are produced by LeoStella LLC, a joint venture of Spaceflight Industries and Thales Alenia Space.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 56.0 kg
Sun-Synchronous Orbit

Prometheus

Prometheus is the name of the CubeSat constellation developed and operated by LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory), Los Alamos, New Mexico, for USSOCOM (U.S. Special Operations Command). The Prometheus CubeSats are part of a technology development and demonstration effort to explore the viability of using a CubeSat constellation to meet existing special operations mission requirements.

Payloads: 2
Total Mass: 4.0 kg
Sun-Synchronous Orbit

ACRUX-1

Named for the brightest star in the Southern Cross, ACRUX-1 will be the first satellite launched by the Melbourne Space Program. its primary goals are education and demonstrating cubesat platform technologies.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 1.0 kg
Sun-Synchronous Orbit

Painani 1

Painani 1 is an experimental nanosatellite owned by Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), the Mexican defence agency, and developed by the Universidad del Ejerito y Fuerza Aerea.

It is a 3U CubeSat and carries four small low resolution cameras as a technology experiment, which are only operated over Mexican territory. The data will be downlinked by an S-band downlink using frequency hopping technology. The purpose of the mission is to enable students of the Ensenada Centre for Scientfic and Higher Education to to experiment on improving digital signal processing and Earth station software.

Payloads: 3
Total Mass: 1.0 kg
Sun-Synchronous Orbit

SpaceBEE 8 & 9

The four SpaceBEE, formerly known as BEEs (Basic Electronic Elements), picosatellites, built to the 1U CubeSat form factor are to demonstrate two-way satellite communications and data relay for Swarm Technologies Inc. as a follow on to the first four smaller SpaceBEE 1 to 4 satellites.

The mission is to test the world’s smallest two-way communications satellites to serve as a cost-effective low-data rate Internet of Things (IoT) network connectivity solution for remote and mobile sensors. The initial experimental space deployment is comprised of four satellites, each with a 1U form factor employing radar signature enhancement technology, which enables them to be passively tracked, and using VHF band frequencies for communications. There will also be an experimental deployment of ground stations for communications with the space units.

Payloads: 2
Total Mass: 1.0 kg
Sun-Synchronous Orbit

Location

Rocket Lab LC-1A, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand

Stats

2019

41st orbital launch attempt

Rocket Lab

7th mission
3rd mission of 2019
6th successful mission
6th consecutive successful mission

Electron

7th mission
3rd mission of 2019
6th successful mission
6th consecutive successful mission