Tag: Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab will launch a satellite to the Moon for NASA to prepare for the Lunar Gateway
Launch startup Rocket Lab has been awarded a contract to launch a CubeSat on behalf of NASA for the agency’s CAPSTONE experiment, with the ultimate aim of putting the CAPSTONE CubeSat into cislunar (in the region in between Earth and the Moon) orbit – the same orbit that NASA will…
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Rocket Lab readies parachute tests for its rocket recovery and reuse program
Rocket Lab is proceeding as planned with its efforts to recover and reuse spent rocket boosters from its Electron launch vehicle, and has completed its first prototype parachute for use in the recovery process. Rocket lab CEO Peter Beck announced last year that it would be aiming for reusability with…
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Max Q: SpaceX’s Starlink constellation grows again
Max Q is a new weekly newsletter all about space. Sign up here to receive it weekly on Sundays in your inbox. This week was the busiest yet for space-related news in 2020, thanks in part to the 23rd Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference that happened last week. The…
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Rocket startup Astra emerges from stealth, aims to launch for as little as $1M per flight
There’s yet another new rocket launch startup throwing its hat in the ring – Astra, an Alameda-based company that’s actually been operating in stealth mode (though relatively openly, often referred to as ‘Stealth Space Company’) for the past three years developing and testing its launch vehicle. Astra revealed its business…
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Launch startup Skyrora successfully tests 3D-printed rocket engines powered by plastic waste
Rocket launch startup Skyrora, an Edinburg-based company that’s developing a new launch vehicle for small satellites, has successfully tested its new rocket engines in their first stationary ground-firings, a huge step on the way towards developing their launch vehicle. Skyrora’s rocket engines are novel not only in their use of…
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Rocket Lab points out that not all rideshare rocket launches are created equal
The commercial rideshare model for spacefaring cargo is increasingly popular, and for good reason: It lowers the cost of launching something to space even further than companies like SpaceX have managed by splitting the available space on a rocket among multiple customers. Last August, SpaceX announced that it would be…
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