Questions tagged [rocketlab]

RocketLab, is a private American & New Zealand space exploration company that design & build the Electron launch vehicle.

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What are the two very large "blue" cylinders attaching to the combustion chamber of each Rutherford Engine?

The NASA Spaceflight article Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket set for inaugural flight from New Zealand mentions the upcoming opening of a 10 day launch window: Rocket Lab, a U.S.-based launch service ...
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Why aren't air breathing engines used as small first stages?

I am wondering why we don't use jet engines as first stages. Most small rockets, like the Electron, can lift off with a small thrust. In the Electron's case, 192 kN. Why can't we replace the 9 ...
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Does Humanity Star have non-reflective triangular panels? If so, what are their characteristics?

Rocket Lab has successfully launched a rocket from New Zealand and placed several objects in orbit, see here for example. One payload is New Zealand's first satellite the Humanity Star, a reflective ...
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Are the ejected first stage Electron rocket batteries really incinerated?

This answer reminded me that the Electron rocket drops one of it's batteries when it is mostly spent. We might call that "micro-staging". This answer quotes Spaceflight 101: With a low auto-...
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Are LiPo batteries more suitable for 1st stage electric power than Li-ion batteries?

I've just ran across two mentions in Scott Manley's videos of LiPo batteries (Lithium-polymer) in first stage launch applications. These involve power levels of megawatts. Why The Electron Rocket May ...
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Air-launching an Electron-like LOX-based rocket from a plane; technical challenges?

@GremlinWranger's answer and comments to the question Is it coincidence that the Electron has very similar dimensions to the Pegasus? motivates my asking for the technical challenges to air-launching ...
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Why would Humanity Star not be visible from North America (USA?) until March?

A quote near the end of the BBC's article 'Disco ball' put into space from NZ says: Jonathan McDowell, a satellite-tracker and astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, ...
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How does the camera make the exhaust of the Electron's RP-1/LOX exhaust transparent?

In this 20-Nov-2018 Tweet from Rocket Labs XXX Peter Beck there is an image of the nine Rutherford engines of an Electron rocket burning. What is unusual is that the exhaust is luminescent but at the ...
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What was ejected from RocketLab's Electron launch vehicle at T+6:25 during stage two burn?

For those that watched the second launch of RocketLab's Electron launch vehicle, out of Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand on 21 January 2018; in which the vehicle successfully made it to orbit for the ...
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Why is Electron painted in black?

Falcon 9 is painted white to avoid heating the liquid oxygen. Why is Electron not also painted white? Rocket color-related questions: Why parts of RocketLab's Electron become white before launch? ...
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Why is Rocketlab working with a Federal Aviation Administration to investigate an early 2nd stage engine shutdown?

Rocketlab's just-posted Rocket Lab Experiences Anomaly During Launch begins: Auckland, New Zealand. May 16, 2021: Following a successful lift-off, first stage burn, and stage separation, Rocket Lab ...
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Why is Rocket Lab's New Zealand launch site good for polar orbits?

The Channel News Asia article New Zealand launches into space race with 3D-printed rocket says: Ships and planes need re-routing every time a rocket is launched, which limits opportunities in ...
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Is it coincidence that the Electron has very similar dimensions to the Pegasus?

Orbital ATK Pegasus: 16.9 m × 1.27 m RocketLab Electron: 17 m × 1.2 m Apart from that, the two rockets are very different: the Pegasus is a solid-fuel, air-launched rocket with a mass of 18.5 t and ...
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What is Rocket Lab's new Curie "Kick Stage"?

This reddit points to Rocket Lab's news page Rocket Lab successfully circularizes orbit with new Electron kick stage. It is named Curie, presumably after Marie? According to the Rocket Lab's article: ...
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Debris breaking away from Electron rocket [duplicate]

In this youtube video of Rocket Lab's Electron rocket launch we can see some debris breaking from the rocket. Besides the ice, there seems to be some sort of a black square-ish structure to the left ...
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Why doesn't Rocket Lab use a solid stage?

I was just reading about the Scout, an all-solid rocket, and thought of Rocket Lab's Electron, which seems to have a similar mission of deploying small payloads to orbit. I understand the engines to ...
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To what extent, if any, does the exterior paint color of a launch vehicle affect its propellant & vehicle thermal management?

Many orbital launch vehicles use a combination of a chilled oxidiser (usually LOX when dealing with liquid-fuelled rockets) and a fuel (commonly RP-1, but with many designs now opting for Methane). ...
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What is the mass of the Electron rocket's battery pack?

I am trying to estimate battery weights for electric pump fed rockets of various sizes and wanted to use the electron rocket as data to validate my calculations. However I was unable to find the mass ...
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Why parts of RocketLab's Electron become white before launch?

In this video: Rocket Lab - In Focus Launch 10/28/2020, at 13:50, it is seen that the middle of the stage of Electron turns from black to white: I have seen this in other videos as well. Why is this ...
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What "green" propellant powers Curie, the engine on RocketLab's payload kickstage?

Upon news of RocketLab's successful flight of the Electron launch vehicle, it was announced that not only had they deployed the three onboard payloads into the desired orbit, they had done so using a ...
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How do NASA Venture Class Launch Services Contracts work?

The Rocket Lab YouTube video ELaNa 19 Launch - 12/16/2018 contained a short video which was preceded by the following explanation after about 08:00: Today’s ...
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Chamber Pressure and Burn Rate equations

I know that chamber pressure is $$P_0=p \left[ 1+ \frac{1}{2}(k-1)M^2 \right]^\frac{k}{k-1}$$ where $M$ is exit Mach number and according this equation $$M= \sqrt{ \frac{2}{k-1} \left[ \left( \frac{...
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How many times will the Photon fire its Curie in order to "reach the right spot" to deploy CAPSTONE towards the Moon?

The Verge's How small launcher Rocket Lab plans to pull off its first mission to the Moon next year says (though this has since been addressed†): Photon is going to need it all in order to get NASA’s ...
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Can satellites really be launched within hours with RocketLab?

Watching the Rocket Lab - In Focus Launch 10/28/2020 video linked below, there is a section at 12:50: The ability to deploy new satellites to precise orbits in a ...
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How much payload capacity is available for a Rocketlab Photon interplanetary mission to Venus?

I've been quite interested in Rocketlab's Photon satellite bus, which they claim to be able to send to Venus. I'm trying to get some kind of an idea of what kind of payload might possible be able to ...
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