https://bsky.app/profile/rocketlabusa.com/post/3llrsyns2ik2b

Milestone reached on the road to Neutron's first launch 🚀 Stage 2 qualification is now complete, proving out the stage's design, operations, and readiness for flight.

https://bsky.app/profile/rocketlabusa.com/post/3llrsz3xdes2b

Neutron's Stage 2 is a novel concept. Unlike most rockets, it hangs inside Stage 1 from the top of the tank, rather than being supported from the bottom, enabling a very lightweight structure. Stage 2 is then expelled from within to deliver the payload to space.

https://bsky.app/profile/rocketlabusa.com/post/3llrsz63kxs2b

Stage 2's qualification has included:
✔ 1,300,000+ pounds of force in tension load applied
✔ flight-like operations combining flight software, avionics, GNC systems, & more performed in cryogenic conditions
✔ pressurization and proof testing at 125% maximum operating pressure and mechanical loads

Finding Hot Wildfires Near You

Rocket Lab's mission names never fail to disappoint...

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-03-26 15:30 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZDT) | 2025-03-27 04:30 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customer | OroraTech | | Payload | OroraTech Constellation Phase 1 | | Target orbit | Sun-Synchronous Orbit |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-ozUCTeDFE | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqq0Ie-xDbE | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzIHOaLzXlc |

Stats

• 5th launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• 63nd overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

OroraTech Constellation Phase 1

OroraTech is developing a constellation of satellites with thermal infrared cameras that can provide 24/7 monitoring of wildfires globally, supporting better and faster wildfire response to protect forests, people, and infrastructure worldwide. The mission will deploy its latest plane of satellites called OTC-P1 to their current constellation, further expanding OroraTech’s capabilities to first responders, governments, and industry partners. The company will expand their constellation with up to 100 satellites in total by 2028.

Previous mission: High Five

Next mission: TBD

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively small community, so feedback is very valuable!

High Five

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-03-18 01:31 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZDT) | 2025-03-18 14:31 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1A, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customer | Kinéis | | Payload | Kinéis Mission V | | Target orbit | LEO |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-31hJeW1ec | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CC5_hmqH44 | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJa0ak2i6fE |

Stats

• 4th launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• 62nd overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

Kinéis Mission V

Fifth and final batch of five satellites for the French Kinéis IoT constellation designed to operate with 25 nanosatellites of 28 kg each. The constellation will enable Kinéis, a company backed by private and public investors including the French government’s space agency CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales) and CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites) an international space-based solutions provider, to improve its global IoT connectivity.

Previous mission: The Lightning God Reigns

Next mission: Finding Hot Wildfires Near You

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively new community, so feedback is very valuable!

Video description:

If a jumbo jet doesn't throw away its doors every flight, why should we? Hear more from Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck on the mechanics and design philosophy behind Neutron's captive and reusable fairing, a.k.a. Hungry Hippo.

The Lightning God Reigns

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-03-15 00:00 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZDT) | 2025-03-15 13:00 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customer | iQPS | | Payload | QPS-SAR-9 | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into LEO |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-cuTDrVCmQ | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_0MLtKwN9Q | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCVsoMbyVe4 |

Stats

• This will be the 3rd launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• This will be the 61st overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

QPS-SAR-9

iQPS’s satellites are small, high-performance SAR satellites that use a lightweight, large, stowable antenna to collect high-resolution images of Earth, even through clouds and adverse weather conditions. Ultimately, the iQPS constellation is planned to have 36 satellites capable of monitoring specific fixed points on Earth every 10 minutes. In addition to launching on Electron, the QPS-SAR satellite will use a Rocket Lab Motorized Lightband as its separation system for deployment to space.

Previous mission: Fasten Your Space Belts

Next mission: High Five

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively new community, so feedback is very valuable!

Video description:

Mars Sample Return doesn’t have to take decades or break the bank.

This animation showcases Rocket Lab’s proposed mission architecture to bring Martian samples to Earth.

Learn more: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/mars-sample-return/

Fasten Your Space Belts

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-02-18 23:17 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZDT) | 2025-02-19 12:17 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customer | BlackSky | | Payload | Kinéis 16-20 | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into LEO |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv_Zw8UK3H0 | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yl7hDb8ulM | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrSDG-LDkCs |

Stats

• This will be the 2nd launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• This will be the 60th overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

BlackSky Gen-3 Mission 1

The first of five BlackSky Technology missions to deploy its new next-generation BlackSky Gen-3 satellites. The commercial constellation of Gen-3 satellites has the capability to produce imagery with 50-centimeter resolution and host multiple sensors, including shortwave infrared (SWIR). The improved resolution and enhanced spectral diversity of the Gen-3 satellites will expand BlackSky's ability to provide real-time information to its customers.

Previous mission: IoT 4 You and Me

Next mission: The Lightning God Reigns

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively new community, so feedback is very valuable!

Hopefully this is allowed!

I found it pretty interesting, Sir Peter Beck's insights into the space industry seem very "down-to-earth" and realistic.

IoT 4 You and Me

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-02-08 20:43 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZDT) | 2024-02-09 09:43 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1A, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customer | Kinéis | | Payload | Kinéis 16-20 | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into LEO |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Al5hWmjoxQ | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LymS8p38Q98 | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t6_MoFqiT4 |

Stats

• This will be the 1st launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• This will be the 59th overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

Fourth batch of five satellites for the French Kinéis IoT constellation designed to operate with 25 nanosatellites of 30 kg each. The constellation will enable Kinéis, a company backed by private and public investors including the French government’s space agency CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales) and CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites) an international space-based solutions provider, to improve its global IoT connectivity.

Previous mission: Owl The Way Up

Next mission: Fasten Your Space Belts

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively new community, so feedback is very valuable!

Described by company leadership as a “nights-and-weekends” project, Rocket Lab has since partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to deliver the first private mission to Venus. It would be the first such commercial endeavor, though not the first ever visit to Earth’s closest neighboring planet.

Armed with a device called a nephelometer, which helps study particles by analyzing how light interacts with them, the Rocket Lab-MIT probe is expected to collect data for approximately five minutes as it pierces the Venusian cloud layer. It then will “have a crack,” Beck said, at uncovering those floating signs of life.

“It is a privately-funded philanthropic mission, and so that’s where the nights-and-weekends come from,” he explained on the Space Minds podcast. But it is how the leader of a $13 billion company wants to spend his time and where he thinks there’s value.

“We’ve all got real jobs to do. But if you can go there and you don’t find life, I think that’s super interesting,” he added. “If you go there, and you did find life, that answers one of the biggest questions in our history … and you can pretty conclusively draw that life is going to be prolific throughout the universe.”

Source: NoLifeJordan69