Launch Services and Space Systems leader, Rocket Lab USA launched two satellites today on its 47th Electron flight to separate orbits around 500 kilometres apart.
The ‘Beginning Of The Swarm’ (B.T.S) mission lifted-off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand at 10:32 NZST on April 24th, 2024 with payloads for the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and NASA. Prior to deploying NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System to a higher circular orbit at 1,000 km, Electron first launched the primary payload, NEONSAT-1 by KAIST, into a 520 km circular Earth orbit.
For KAIST, NEONSAT-1 will observe the Korean Peninsula on Earth. Artificial intelligence will then be used to combine the satellite’s data with the data to track any potential natural disasters in the area. The first of 11 satellites in KAIST’s intended constellation, NEONSAT-1 will survey the Korean Peninsula multiple times a day.
NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System, a technology demonstration of novel materials that use sunlight to drive a spacecraft, was the second mission to be deployed today. Similar to how wind pushes on a sail on a sailboat, solar sails use the force of sunshine as propulsion to move. The goal of this trip is to evaluate how successfully the spacecraft, which is around the size of a toaster, can spread its sail to cover an area that is roughly the size of a small apartment using innovative composite booms. Future larger-scale composite solar sail systems for space weather early warning satellites, asteroid and other small body reconnaissance missions, and solar polar area observation missions will be designed using data from this mission.
The Electron’s Kick Stage is a tiny stage that provides engine relight capability to facilitate last-mile delivery, enabling the deployment of two satellites more than 500 km apart on the same flight. The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System spacecraft was launched by Electron’s Kick Stage following the successful completion of many in-orbit runs of its Curie engine to raise its apogee and circularize its orbit following the deployment of NEONSAT-1. After completing its [fourth] and last engine light, the Kick Stage executed a deorbit maneuver, bringing the stage closer to Earth and accelerating its eventual deorbit, hence contributing to the reduction of long-term orbital debris.
After recent successful mission, Electron has now been launched five times in 2024, making it the second most often launched rocket in the United States each year.
