Small Satellite Missions

Welcome to launch day for NASA’s Starling CubeSat mission! A team of four satellites wait atop a Rocket Lab Electron rocket for liftoff from Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand. This launch, named Baby Come Back, will send Starling’s cereal box-sized satellites, called CubeSats, to low Earth orbit, where they will test new autonomous …

NASA has awarded Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of Hawthorne, California, one task order to launch two CubeSat Launch Initiative missions as part of the agency’s Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract. The CubeSats are targeted to launch no earlier than 2025 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. NASA will specify payloads …

The final two TROPICS CubeSats successfully deployed from a Rocket Lab Electron rocket after launch. The rocket named Coming To A Storm Near You lifted off at at 11:46 p.m. EDT Thursday, May 25, (3:46 p.m. NZST Friday, May 26th). The team is now working to seek signal acquisition from this pair of TROPICS CubeSats. …

NASA’s TROPICS CubeSats have deployed from the Rocket Lab Electron kick stage. The two CubeSats will reach low Earth orbit to begin their mission. Each of the CubeSats was designed to last approximately two years, but analysis, lifetime testing of key parts, and on-orbit experiences with similar hardware could help the satellites surpass their design …

The second stage of Rocket Lab’s Electron has cut off and separated from the payload fairing’s kick stage. In around 20 minutes, the kick stage engine will ignite and burn for almost four minutes before it cuts off.

The Electron rocket has successfully completed the battery hot swap, switching power between batteries. The next milestone is second stage separation in about two minutes.

NASA’s two TROPICS CubeSats have lifted off atop Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 at Māhia, New Zealand at 11:46 p.m. EDT Thursday, May 25, (3:46 p.m. NZST Friday, May 26th). A series of milestones will occur within several minutes after launch. The rocket will reach Max-Q – the speed at which the …

TROPICS will launch aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket, on a mission nicknamed Coming To A Storm Near You, from Launch Complex 1 at Māhia, New Zealand. The first mission – Rocket Like A Hurricane – launched on May 8 from New Zealand was Rocket Lab’s 36th Electron launch overall. The Electron is a 60-foot (18 …

The team has just called out Go for Launch, and the Electron rocket carrying NASA’s TROPICS mission should blast off in about 10 minutes.

NASA selected Rocket Lab to provide the launch service for the TROPICS mission as part of the agency’s VADR (Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) launch services contract in November 2022. NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida manages the launch service. TROPICS is one of NASA’s Earth venture-instrument missions, …