Satellite countdown for Rocket Lab
New Zealand space company Rocket Lab expects to make its first attempt to put satellites into space in December.
The Auckland firm has moved an Electron rocket to its launch site on the Ma¯hia Peninsula, to begin pre-flight checks for what could be its first real mission.
The 23-metre carbon-fibre rocket will be carrying four satellites which Rocket Lab will attempt to put into low orbit, though spokeswoman Morgan Bailey is describing it as ‘‘definitely still a test flight’’.
Two of the shoe-boxed-sized satellites are owned by United States company Planet Labs, which has already put about 200 satellites into space.
Its satellites, which it calls ‘‘Doves’’, are low-cost devices containing a telescope and camera that are used for visual imagery and to detect changing land use.
Although Planet Lab’s biggest customers are in agriculture, it also markets its services to defence and intelligence agencies.
The other two satellites on board the Electron launch vehicle are owned by fellow American satellite operator Spire Global which specialises in tracking ships and aircraft.
Neither company is putting too many eggs into a basket with the Electron test launch.
Planet Labs lost 26 of its satellites when an Antares launch vehicle also carrying supplies to the International Space Station exploded in 2014, but said that was not a catastrophe for it.
Spire says it has the capacity to manufacture two of its satellites in a week.
Bailey said Rocket Lab might have a clearer idea of the window for the Electron launch in a couple of weeks.
‘‘It will be before the end of the year, but we are still working through the exact timing.’’
Bailey said the use to which Planet Labs’ satellites were put was not its domain. ‘‘They are just earth-imaging satellites and as a payload they are approved by the New Zealand Government.’’