Electron (rocket)

The Electron (see picture) is a launcher from the US-New Zealand company Rocket Lab . It has two stages and a kick stage and, with its payload capacity of around 150  kg to 220 kg, can bring cubesats and other small satellites into orbit in particular .

construction

Rocket Lab designed the Rutherford engine for the Electron . RP-1 and liquid oxygen are used as fuel . The fuel pumps are operated by brushless DC motors that are fed by lithium polymer batteries . The main parts of the engine are manufactured using 3D printing .

The first step has a diameter of 1.2 meters. It has nine Rutherford engines that develop a thrust of 162 kN when it takes off  . As the air pressure drops, the thrust increases up to 192 kN during flight.

The second stage has the same diameter as the first stage. It has a single Rutherford engine that is optimized for operation in a vacuum . It develops a thrust of 22 kN. The used batteries are discarded during operation to save weight and increase the payload. A kick stage can be used as the last stage. It has its own power supply, avionics and a communication system . The position control takes place via a gas pressure operated reaction control system . A Curie engine with 120 N thrust, which like the larger Rutherford engine, is largely manufactured using 3D printing, provides the drive. Electron can transport satellites on different orbits in one mission. In addition, at the end of the mission, the orbit of the kick stage can be lowered to reduce the time spent in orbit.

Rocket Lab also announced that it will further develop the kick stage into a satellite bus called the Photon , which can operate in Earth orbit for up to five years. The customers would then not have to provide satellites with their own power supply, communication technology, position control, etc., but could have their payloads installed directly on the Photon bus. With this new level, geostationary orbits and escape orbits should also be accessible. From the 4th quarter of 2020, Rocket Lab would like to offer the transport of payloads up to 30 kg in a orbit around the moon.

Reusability

In August 2019, Rocket Lab announced that a reusable first stage for the Electron was in development. Since landing by means of engine braking is not economical with small rockets, a braking balloon and a parachute should be used instead . Finally, the step is to be caught in a helicopter and taken to a rescue ship. The main difficulty lies in the heat and the structural load that arises when re-entering the atmosphere at 8.5 times the speed of sound . A specific time schedule up to the first stage recovery was not given due to unresolved technical challenges.

commitment

The Electron was developed for relatively light satellites. The maximum payload is around 220 kg with an orbit inclination of 45 ° and around 150 kg for a sun-synchronous orbit .

The first launches all take place from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 , which Rocket Lab created itself. The spaceport is located on the Mahia Peninsula on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island . Another launch site at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 is under construction at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia . The first launch from there was initially announced for September 2019 and then postponed several times. Sutherland Spaceport in the Scottish Highlands, which is currently being planned, is being discussed as a third location .

First flight

For the first test flight, called It's a Test , a take-off window has been set between May 22nd and June 1st, 2017 (New Zealand time). After the start was postponed several times due to bad weather, the Electron took off on its maiden flight on May 25th. The first stage worked without any problems, the stage separation, the ignition of the second stage and the dropping of the payload fairing were also successful. However, the rocket did not reach Earth orbit. As it later found out, a misconfigured receiver could not correctly convert the missile's radio signals into data. This was interpreted as a break in the radio link, so that the flight was broken off in accordance with the safety regulations. This happened about four minutes after take-off at an altitude of 224 km.

Second flight

The second test flight, called Still Testing, took place on January 21, 2018 and brought three Cubesats and the "artificial star" Humanity Star into various orbits of the earth. After launching the Dove Pioneer Cubesats and Humanity Star in a 300 × 500 km orbit, the previously unannounced kick stage raised the orbit of the two Lemur 2 Cubesats to 550 × 500 km. This flight was the first orbital space flight from a private launch site.

More flights

Three test flights were originally planned. After two test flights, however, Rocket Lab decided to go into commercial operation with the third launch. There were several suggestions for the title of the mission, with It's Business Time clearly winning in a vote on social media .

One of the customers who have already booked launches is the company Moon Express , which should have brought a lander to the moon by March 31, 2018 at the latest in order to meet the conditions of the competition for the Google Lunar X-Prize . Moon Express had booked a total of three electron launches, however, due to increasing demands on the missions, a change to a more powerful launcher may be necessary.

Start list

Performed starts

As of August 31, 2020

No.	Date ( UTC )	Launch site	payload	Orbit approx.	Remarks
2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020
2017
01	May 25, 2017 4:20 am	1 (Mahia)	Humanity Star	LEO (planned)	Partial success Mission designation: It's a test (test flight) start, separation of the first stage and the payload fairing successful. The flight was canceled after 4 minutes at an altitude of 224 km
2018
02	Jan. 21, 2018 1:44 am	1 (Mahia)	2 × Lemur-2 Cubesats from Spire Global 1 × Dove Pioneer Cubesat from Planet Labs Humanity Star	500 × 550 km 500 × 300 km	Success Mission Name: Still Testing (test flight)
03	Nov 11, 2018 3:50 am	1 (Mahia)	2 × LEMUR-2 Cubesats from Spire Global 2 × Proxima Cubesats from Fleet Space Technologies 1 × IRVINE01 Cubesat as part of the Irvine CubeSat STEM Program 1 × Cicero-10 Cubesat from GeoOptics Inc. 1 × NABEO from High Performance Space Structure Systems , technology demonstrator for a deployable brake sail to reduce space debris . Remains with the upper level for the entire duration of the mission	500 km	Success Mission Name: It's Business Time
04th	Dec 16, 2018 6:33 am	1 (Mahia)	ELaNa -19 (14 Cubesats): 2 × AeroCube 11, ALBus, CeREs, CHOMPTT, CubeSail A / B, Da Vinci, ISX, NMTSat, RSat-P, Shields-1, SHFT 1, STF-1	500 km	Success name of the rocket: This One's For Pickering
2019
05	29 Mar 2019 23:37	1 (Mahia)	R3D2 (technology testing satellite)	425 km	Success name of the rocket: Two Thumbs Up
06th	0May 5, 2019 6:00 am	1 (Mahia)	STP -27RD: Harbinger, Sparc-1 and Falcon ODE ( US Air Force technology test satellites)	500 km	Success Name of the rocket: That's a Funny Looking Cactus
07th	June 29, 2019 4:30 am	1 (Mahia)	BlackSky Global 3 ( earth observation satellite ) 2 × Prometheus (military satellites) Acrux-1 (teaching satellite) 2 × Spacebee ( communications satellite ) Painani-1 (reconnaissance satellite)	450 km	Achievement mission title: Make it Rain
08th	19 Aug 2019 12:12	1 (Mahia)	BlackSky Global 4 (Earth observation satellite) BRO 1 (Traffic surveillance satellite) 2 × Pearl White (experimental satellite)	550 km	Success mission title: "Look Ma, No Hands"
09	Oct 17, 2019 1:22 am	1 (Mahia)	Palisade (technology testing satellite)	1200 km	Achievement mission title: As The Crow Flies
10	0Dec 6, 2019 8:18 am	1 (Mahia)	ALE-2 (Technologieerprobungssatellit) Alba Cluster 2 (7 pocketqubes ): ATL-1 (Technologieerprobungssatellit) TRSI Sat (Technologieerprobungssatellit) Discovery (Earth observation satellite) SMOG-P (Research satellite ) Fossasat-1 (communication satellite) Technology 1A,	LEO	Achievement Mission Title: Running out of fingers
2020
11	Jan 31, 2020 2:56 am	1 (Mahia)	NROL-151		Achievement Mission title and missile name: Birds of a Feather
12	June 13, 2020 5:12 am	1 (Mahia)	Elana 32 : Andesite (researchsatellites)3 NGO satellitesM2 Pathfinder (technology testing)		Achievement Mission Title: Don't Stop Me Now
13	July 4, 2020 9:19 PM	1 (Mahia)	CE-SAT 1B , 5 Flock-4e satellites, Faraday-1	500 km	Failure to lose thrust of the second stage 5½ minutes after take-off. The cause was a defective connector. Mission designation: Pics Or It Didn't Happen
14th	August 31, 2020 3:05 am	1 (Mahia)	Sequoia (radar satellite)	525 km, 45 °	Success Mission Title: I Can't Believe It's Not Optical

Evidence: Start lists on skyrocket.de and russianspaceweb.com

Planned launches

The following list shows a selection of known payloads. It is always possible for several payloads to be started with the same flight or for additional payloads to be added. Statements by the Rocket Lab management suggest that there are numerous other, as yet unpublished start orders.

All dates are plans or expectations for the earliest possible start date. The starts are often postponed to a later date.

List updated on August 31, 2020

Date ( UTC )	Launch site	payload	Orbit approx.	Remarks
September 2020	2 (Wallops)	Mission: STP-27RM Monolith (Technology Trial Satellite )
4th quarter 2020	1 (Mahia)	StriX-α (Earth observation satellite)	LEO
2020	1 (Mahia)	Whitney (Earth observation satellite)	525 km
2020	1 (Mahia)	Photon test flight	LEO
2020	1 (Mahia)	McNair (Technology Trial Satellite)	SSO
2020		Dragracer (technology testing satellite)	SSE 400 km
Early 2021	2 (Wallops)	Capstone ( moon orbiter )	Escape route	with photon
2022 at the earliest	1 (Mahia)	Archinaut One (Technology Trial Satellite )	LEO
possibly 2023		Venus probe	Escape route	with photon
		Several launches, each with several flock nano earth observation satellites	LEO
		CE-SAT-I Mark 2 (Earth observation satellite)	LEO

Web links

Commons : Electron (rocket)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Electron on the Rocket Lab website (English)
• Electron in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
• Payload User's Guide , Rocket Lab (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rocket Lab: Rutherford Engine Qualified for Flight. March 31, 2016, accessed May 17, 2017 . 
2. ^ Electron - satellite launch vehicle. In: Rocket Lab. Retrieved January 21, 2018 . 
3. ^ Norbert Brügge: Asian space-rocket liquid-propellant engines. B14643.de, accessed on May 31, 2017 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Rocket Lab Surprises with Kick Stage Test & Humanity Star on Recent “Still Testing” Mission. In: Spaceflight 101. January 24, 2018, accessed January 25, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Mike Wall: Space Launch Startup Rocket Lab Is Building Satellites Now, Too. In: space.com. April 9, 2019, accessed August 7, 2019 . 
6. ^ ^{A b} Rocket Lab Unveils Spacecraft Program. Rocket Lab, April 8, 2019, accessed April 9, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Rocket Lab — yep, Rocket Lab — has a plan to deliver satellites to the Moon . Ars Technica, October 21, 2019.
8. ↑ Michael Sheetz: Rocket Lab unveils plan to land small rockets by catching them with a helicopter. In: CNBC.com. August 7, 2019, accessed August 7, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Rocket Lab: Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 Complete. September 27, 2016, accessed May 17, 2015 . 
10. ^ Jeff Foust: Rocket Lab to launch DARPA satellite. Spacenews, January 22, 2019, accessed on April 5, 2019 . 
11. ↑ Rocket men: locals divided over plans for UK's first spaceport. In: The Guardian. July 16, 2018, accessed September 9, 2019 . 
12. ↑ ^{a b} Loren Grush: Rocket Lab will try to launch its experimental rocket for the first time later this month. The Verge, May 14, 2017, accessed May 17, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Rocket Lab: Rocket Lab successfully makes it to space. May 25, 2017, accessed May 25, 2017 . 
14. ↑ ^{a b} Rocket Lab: Rocket Lab Completes Post-Flight Analysis. August 7, 2017, accessed August 7, 2017 . 
15. ↑ ^{a b} Stephen Clark: Live coverage: Test flight of Rocket Lab's satellite launcher set for today. In: Spaceflight Now. January 19, 2018, accessed January 21, 2018 . 
16. ↑ Rocket Lab: It's Business Time at Rocket Lab. March 13, 2018, accessed March 21, 2018 . 
17. ↑ Mike Wall: Deadline for Google Lunar X Prize Moon Race Extended Through March 2018. space.com , August 16, 2017, accessed on January 3, 2018 . 
18. ↑ Jeff Foust: Moon Express Buys Rocket Lab Launches for Lunar Missions. Space News, October 1, 2015, accessed May 24, 2017 . 
19. ↑ Jeff Foust: Moon Express raises $ 12.5 million. In: Spacenews. October 1, 2018, accessed April 5, 2019 . 
20. ↑ Chris Gebhardt: Rocket Lab launches first operational Electron mission. In: NASASpaceFlight.com. November 10, 2018, accessed November 11, 2018 . 
21. ↑ Twitter message from Rocket Lab, December 11, 2018.
22. ↑ Jonathan O'Callaghan: Rocket Lab Launches Experimental Satellite For DARPA On Its First Mission Of 2019. In: forbes.com. March 28, 2019, accessed April 4, 2019 . 
23. ↑ Twitter message from Rocket Lab, April 4, 2019.
24. ↑ Live coverage: Rocket Lab launches rideshare mission. In: Spaceflight Now. Retrieved June 29, 2019 . 
25. ↑ Rocket Lab's Next Mission Focused On Building Constellations And Enabling R&D. Rocket Lab, July 22, 2019, accessed July 22, 2019 . 
26. ↑ Rocket Lab's 10th launch tests booster recovery technology. spaceflightnow.com, December 6, 2019, accessed December 7, 2019 . 
27. ^ Next Mission: Birds of a Feather
28. ↑ Stephen Clark: Live coverage: Rocket Lab confirms launch failure after liftoff with seven satellites - Spaceflight Now. In: Spaceflight Now. July 4, 2018, accessed August 31, 2020 . 
29. ↑ Stephen Clark: Rocket Lab identifies faulty electrical connector as cause of launch failure - Spaceflight Now. In: Spaceflight Now. July 31, 2020, accessed on August 31, 2020 . 
30. ↑ Stephen Clark: Rocket Lab returns to service with successful launch for Capella - Spaceflight Now. In: Spaceflight Now. August 31, 2020, accessed on August 31, 2020 . 
31. ↑ Gunter Dirk Krebs: Electron on skyrocket.de
32. ^ Anatoly Zak: Chronology of Space Exploration
33. ↑ In 5 years, 5,000 spacecraft will be looking for launch: Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck . thehindubusinessline.com, September 7, 2019.
34. ^ Launch Schedule. Spaceflight Now, accessed August 29, 2020 . 
35. ↑ Twitter message from Jeff Foust, April 29, 2020
36. ^ Rocket Lab to Launch Dedicated Mission for Japanese Space Industry Start-up Company Synspective . Rocket Lab, April 14, 2020.
37. ↑ Capella Space FCC license application , March 3, 2020.
38. ^ Capella Space and Rocket Lab to Launch Mid-Inclination Satellite to Enable Improved Monitoring of Key Global Regions . Rocket Lab, March 5, 2020
39. ^ Exhibit 1: Akash Mission Description. In: fcc.report. Akash Systems, Inc., July 18, 2018, accessed April 2, 2019 . 
40. ↑ Debra Werner: TriSept, Millennium, Tethers Unlimited and Rocket Lab to demonstrate de-orbit technology. In: Spacenews. August 5, 2019, accessed August 8, 2019 . 
41. ^ NASA Awards Contract to Launch CubeSat to Moon from Virginia . NASA, February 14, 2020.
42. ↑ NASA Funds Demo of 3D-Printed Spacecraft Parts Made, Assembled in Orbit. NASA , July 12, 2019, accessed July 15, 2019 . 
43. ↑ Twitter message from Peter Beck, May 28, 2020.
44. ↑ Planet purchases three launches from Rocket Lab. In: Spacenews. July 12, 2016, accessed April 2, 2019 . 
45. ^ Spaceflight books three electron rockets. In: Spacenews. June 11, 2018, accessed April 2, 2019 .