Rocket Lab makes first commercial delivery

WELLINGTON: New Zealandbased space rocket company Rocket Lab has successfully launched its first commercial delivery into orbit.

The startup fired one of its 17m Electron rockets from the Mahia Peninsula in the North Island about 5pm yesterday, dropping off its first fullyfledged business payload — six satellites and an experimental piece of technology for five clients — in space about an hour later.

USowned Rocket Lab runs the world’s first privatelyowned launch facility and focuses on getting small deliveries into orbit at relatively low costs.

Yesterday’s livestreamed takeoff was the third attempt at the mission after technical issues in April and June.

Those followed a successful test in January.

The mission’s final manifest included the late addition of two satellites from South Australia’s Fleet Space Technologies, in what is also the first launch of commercial ‘‘CubeSats’’ — miniature satellites — from an Australian company.

Earlier this year, Rocket Lab founder and chief executive Peter Beck described the mission — named ‘‘It’s Business Time’’ — as a milestone in the global space industry and said it marked the beginning of commercial operations to get small satellites into orbit.

The Electron rockets use 3Dprinted engines and can carry payloads up to about 150kg.

To meet swelling bookings for this year and next, the company has rapidly scaled up production at its California headquarters.

It is also constructing a second launch pad on the east coast of the US.

Rocket Lab hopes to complete a launch every two weeks in 2019 and weekly in 2020.

The schedule for the next mission will be announced shortly. — AAP