ANYWAVES has signed a contract with Pixxel, a NewSpace startup with operations in India.

One of the main objectives set by ANYWAVES in early 2020 was to make India a key market and establish long term collaboration with Indian NewSpace companies. Just one year after the first mission on the occasion of the Space Technology Conclave Thiruvananthapuram, the challenges have been met.

Last December, ANYWAVES received an order for two flight models of the company’s S-band TT&C (Tracking, Telemetry, and Control) antenna. The company will equip a smallsat planned to be put into orbit by Pixxel in late 2021. Optimized for platforms’ telemetry and telecommand, these antennas have space heritage and will be used to pilot the satellite, send instructions as well as ensure the platform’s proper functioning.

Pixxel’s satellites used for Earth-imaging aim to provide global coverage every 24 hours, enabling organizations around the globe to detect, monitor and predict global phenomena in near real time.

A symbol of an historic cooperation initiated by the French and Indian space agencies, CNES and ISRO, the collaboration between ANYWAVES and Pixxel exemplifies how ambitious the New Space industry players are and this contract is a new, commercial success for ANYWAVES, paving the way to future developments in India. Being selected by Pixxel also allows the French manufacturer to get closer to the firm’s goal of becoming the leader of miniature antennas for satellite constellations.

Article by Chris Forrester, Senior Contributor, Satnews Publishers

The planet’s two richest individuals, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, are involved in a bitter slanging match over their satellite broadband mega-constellations.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and their two rival businesses, SpaceX and Project Kuiper, have lodged almost daily tit-for-tat filings with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with SpaceX saying that Amazon’s Kuiper is guilty of “stifling competition.”

On February 4, Amazon’s satellite internet project clarified its position in response to recent accusations from Elon Musk and SpaceX that Jeff Bezos’ company is attempting to stifle competition in the sector. Amazon argues – perhaps cheekily – that the FCC should consider Starlink as a “newly designed system” and include it in a broader regulatory processing round that was opened when SpaceX submitted a modification request last year.

In other words, SpaceX/Starlink should, perhaps, start from scratch. Amazon argued that while it supported the ability of operators to modify their systems, what Starlink was requesting was too significant.

SpaceX is already asking the FCC to reduce the heights of some of its Starlink satellites. Project Kuiper stated that if the FCC agrees to the request, then the new orbits will interfere with Kuiper’s plans.

The actual heights are crucial. Musk’s SpaceX request is to orbit 3,000 satellites at heights between 540 to 570 kms (and could wind up in orbits 30 km above or below their licensed orbits). However, Project Kuiper’s existing plan is to orbit its fleet at about 590 kms. Kuiper is arguing that at these close distances, there is a risk of collision and that Musk’s Starlink’s will interfere with Kuiper’s transmissions.

SpaceX brushed off these concerns in the company’s January 22 letter to the FCC from David Goldman (Director Of Satellite Policy at SpaceX) arguing that Project Kuiper had “cherry-picked” its data and was ignoring the modifications SpaceX is proposing in its request for permission. The letter detailed three telephone conversations that SpaceX officials had held with FCC staffers.

Elon Musk also Tweeted on January 26 saying, “It does not serve the public to hamstring Starlink today for an Amazon satellite system that is at best several years away from operation.”

Hours later, Amazon bounced back with its response — “The facts are simple. We designed the Kuiper System to avoid interference with Starlink, and now SpaceX wants to change the design of its system.”

Bezos’s team added, “Those changes not only create a more dangerous environment for collisions in space, but they also increase radio interference for customers. Despite what SpaceX posts on Twitter, it is SpaceX’s proposed changes that would hamstring competition among satellite systems. It is clearly in SpaceX’s interest to smother competition in the cradle if they can, but it is certainly not in the public’s interest.”

SpaceX insists that the modifications it is carrying out would not cause significant increased interference. SpaceX says that its competitors (which also include Viasat) “misrepresent the true results of the modification.”

SpaceX also threw in one major claim. “Amazon lacks standing because its system is not authorized to launch.” These is not quite correct in that Kuiper is authorized by the FCC (July 30, 2020), although the Commission requires that SpaceX deploys at least half of its planned fleet (some 1600 craft) by July of 2026.

The FCC, on July 30 last year, stated that the Kuiper system would advance the public interest… and increase the availability of high-speed broadband service to consumers, government and business.

SpaceX in its filing to the FCC stressed the upside benefits of today’s 100 Mb/s downlink and growing to 10 Gb/s (future) download speeds. The company reminded the FCC that it remains committed to launching about 120 satellites per month and that the constellation is the “lowest LEO system with autonomous collision avoidance.”

SpaceX also repeated a previous commitment that once Kuiper reached its Phase IV (>1800 satellites), it would not operate at more than 580 kms.

Just before the Christmas holiday season last yeaer, Amazon’s SVP of Devices and Services, David Limp, speaking at the Tech Crunch Space 2020 event, told delegates that Kuiper was “launch agnostic” and joked that if there was anyone out there with a spare rocket then to give him a call!

“One of the reasons we thought the time was right to do a constellation now is because of some of the dynamics happening in the launch industry. Every day, we see a new demonstration of reusability, every day we see new demonstrations of breakthroughs in better engines, whether that’s Raptor [which is SpaceX’s engine] or BE-4 [Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin],” he added.

Mr. Limp explained that Kuiper’s own plans did not depend wholly on the Blue Origin-based rockets. He said that Blue Origin would provide some launch capacity, but there would be other suppliers. “When you have to put 3,200-plus things into space, you will need lots of launch capacity,” he said. “Our hope is that it’s not just one provider, that there will be multiple providers.”

The clock is ticking… there are no satellites as of this writing, and while Kuiper has talked about its consumer terminals being able to manage transmission of up to 400 Mb/s – and more down the line – they have yet to be tested in ‘real space’ LEO environments although they have been tested on transmissions from geostationary craft.

Kuiper said, “[Our] single aperture phased array antenna that measures 12 inches in diameter, making it three times smaller and proportionately lighter than legacy antenna designs. This order of magnitude reduction in size will reduce production costs by an equal measure, allowing Amazon to offer customers a terminal that is more affordable and easier to install.”

Kuiper talks about the unit’s ability to handle 4K television streaming material.

Then Jeff Bezos stepped aside from his day-to-day management at Amazon. How much time this will give him to work with his Kuiper – and Blue Origin teams – is yet to be seen.

Meanwhile, SpaceX is well on its way to global coverage. Some 1,100 craft on-orbit, and being added to at a rate of two launches per month, thus 120 extra craft. By mid-year, there could easily be 1,500 satellites on-orbit… and probably more.

At the start of February, it was learned that Starlink’s broadband-by-satellite service is now supplying capacity to more than 10,000 beta-users. The news emerged in a filing to the FCC. Moreover, SpaceX says that it has registered “hundreds of thousands” of interested users without a dollar being spent in advertising. SpaceX says that demand for its service is “strong and widespread.”

The FCC filing stated that Starlink’s performance levels were meeting and exceeding 100 Mb/s down and 20 Mb/s up, with 95 percent of the network managing round-trip latency at or below 31 milliseconds.

Starlink had also tested successfully voice services over the system and that voice connectivity would be available to users with charges “reasonably comparable to urban rates.” Emergency services – to 911 for the US – would also be available.

The SpaceX filing was in support of the company’s classification as an Eligible Telecommunicati0ons Carrier (ETC) and the Rural Digital Opportunities Fund. Starlink is looking for the FCC to grant permission by June 7. SpaceX has qualified for $885 million in Federal funding for a 10-year period and serving 35 US states.

SpaceX reminded the FCC that Starlink already has the authorizations necessary to offer consumer mass-market service. SpaceX told an Australian parliamentary committee that much of Australia will be covered by the Starlink fleet in “early 2021” and the Australian outlying islands by the end of 2022. “Certain more proximate islands within the external territories, notably the Ashmore, Cartier, and Coral Sea Islands, could be served by early 2022, when SpaceX has more fully populated its satellite constellation with ongoing launches and with the establishment of gateway earth stations at proximate mainland locations.”

Other countries have also licensed Starlink services, although it is worth remembering that the FCC has only licensed Starlink in the United States for an initial 1 million user terminals. Other jurisdictions have granted approval, including the UK, Greece, Canada, Germany, Australia and elsewhere, and with an application pending in India.

The fact that both Musk and Bezos can easily finance their rival businesses helps that the systems will launch and provide competition for consumers. However, it is by no means certain that Musk’s ‘first mover advantage’ will prove to be the winning formula. After all, Amazon has a global relationship with millions – and probably billions – of users. Then there’s OneWeb and the promised Telesat schemes just to throw further competition into the mix.

These highly competitive marketing and sales elements might turn out to be crucially important in certain countries (Telesat in Canada, OneWeb in India, for example).

Meanwhile, the two billionaires are ensuring us humble mortals remain extremely amused!

Senior Columnist Chris Forrester is a well-known broadcasting journalist and industry consultant. He reports on all aspects of broadcasting with special emphasis on content, the business of television and emerging applications. He founded Rapid TV News and has edited Interspace and its successor Inside Satellite TV since 1996.  He also files for Advanced-Television.com. In November of 1998, Chris was appointed an Associate (professor) of the prestigious Adham Center for Television Journalism, part of the American University in Cairo (AUC), in recognition of his extensive coverage of the Arab media market. Chris is a Senior Contributor for Satnews Publishers.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. now has a Launch Services Agreement with Exolaunch GmbH to integrate and launch multi-satellite clusters aboard Firefly’s Alpha launch vehicle starting in 2022.

Just weeks away from the maiden launch of its Alpha rocket, Firefly plans to swiftly accelerate the frequency of Alpha flights through collaborative partnerships, including this strategic partnership with Exolaunch, a German smallsat integrator known for its substantial flight heritage, flight-proven deployment technologies and high reliability.

Exolaunch has previously launched 140 smallsats for its customers and continues to see increasing demand for its launch and integration services across the global launch and small satellite market.

Firefly will leverage Exolaunch’s payload integration expertise and flight-proven launch hardware: shock-free microsatellite separation systems CarboNIX and cubesat deployer EXOpod along with EXObox sequencers and EXOport multi-satellite adapters, to help ensure successful joint missions as part of the Alpha launch manifest through 2022 and beyond.

Firefly has completed acceptance testing of its Flight 1 Alpha vehicle, which has been delivered to Firefly’s Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC-2) launch site for integration. Following an upcoming static fire, Firefly will prepare for Alpha’s maiden launch.

“This agreement between Firefly and Exolaunch brings together two complementary partners focused on providing affordable space access to a growing number of government, commercial, scientific and academic missions,” said Dr. Tom Markusic, Firefly Aerospace CEO. “Exolaunch is one of the leading payload aggregators and integration providers and will work closely with our Firefly team in filling capacity aboard Alpha launch vehicles and meeting the unprecedented demand for space missions over the years ahead.”

“Exolaunch and Firefly Aerospace share a common goal of opening space to exciting new levels of exploration and economic opportunities, and we look forward to contributing to the success of the Alpha launch vehicle in its quest to affordably deliver spacecraft into orbit,” said Jeanne Medvedeva, VP of Launch Services, Exolaunch. “Discussions with a broad range of government and commercial missions are already well underway, as Exolaunch brings both dedicated and rideshare missions to upcoming launches aboard the Alpha rocket.”

Firefly’s Director of International Business Development, Alona Kolisnyk added, “This partnership between Exolaunch and Firefly Aerospace will drive a steady cadence of missions on Alpha, providing unique launch opportunities for Exolaunch and its clients. We look forward to many successful missions together.”

Chris Baugh (NSR), the moderator for this opening session of the SmallSat Symposium 2021, opened the conversations with the comment that there was a lot to cover — and he was absolutely correct. He noted that the early 2020’s and the pandemic alarmed many within the industry — the fear was that the sky was falling and that resulted in beliefs the industry would experience negative impacts. What occurred was not what many thought would happen.

Carissa Christensen (Bryce Space & Technology) stated that 2020 turned out to be a surprise. Smallsats enjoyed a record breaking year, with more than 1,000 satellites launched during the year to join the 1,500 to 2,000 satellites already on-orbit. What was most surprising was the level and pace of investments in the smallsat industry.

Mike Collett (Promus Ventures) said his company had invested in 90 different startups across the world. He noted that the big [companies] got bigger and capital flowed at a pace no one thought would occur. Twenty- twenty was a terrific year for the larger companies and he indicated that 2021 will surprise all even more, and that the current opportunity for funding just isn’t seen that often and should be taken advantage of while still available.

Dr. Ward Hanson (Stanford University) wanted to ascertain how space actually touched the general public. He said that one of the areas where this happens most directly is with LEO internet and this lines up with the biggest revenue potential. He noted that SpaceX’s Starlink has been growing with very few problems and has received a $900 million subsidy, courtesy of the FCC auction. Space is touching people’s lives and the big payoff will be an awareness of collected data and its use and applications.

Dr. Fred Kennedy (Momentus) — Back in the April/May timeframe, there was a lot of fear. As an example, he related how he was moving to California to purchase a house and found it extremely difficult to find a loan, and the entire process was ugly, representative of the entire capital market at that time. What impressed him is how everything came rebounding back so quickly. He thought we’d be in paralysis for a while, and now he’s very bullish. Venture Capital (VC) is coming out in force to support companies and he’s thrilled to see Elon Musk’s SpaceX with their 1K sats overhead — this is the LEO internet and this is the future, he stated. Once the communications substrate has been built, the sky is the limit. He urged Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to continue their crucial work in building that initial comms architecture.

Jeff Matthews (Deloitte Consulting) — He agreed that his firm had a strategic pause and then the industry demonstrated a good amount of resilience. He believes the industry is on the precipice now and that what is currently occurring is just the tip of the iceberg.

Chris Baugh asked, where are we headed?

Mike Collett — The strength of the equity market is driving a lot of this growth. What’s happening now is moving the market to a place he’s never seen before and the entire process is fascinating. He noted that there are going to be groups over the next 12 to 18 months that will be out of the market due to the fact they raised a lot of money but did not hit their numbers. The firms that do hit their numbers will be well rewarded. He is seeing some frothy action in the evaluations within the private market. This is where he said he gets paid to worry. At the end of a day, however, a company either performs or it doesn’t — the market always sorts out the winners and the losers.

Carissa Christensen — Companies must start with a vision, obtain the investment and develop the technology. There has definitely been an extraordinary surge. Firms must able to move into delivery, satisfy customers and experience profitability. She noted that three of four VC funded firms fail and only 1 in 10 companies produce significant returns. This mortality is expected.

Fred Kennedy: The rubber is meeting the road. LEO internet will go head to head with terrestrial comms. Commercial remote sensing is not just as exciting as it could be, but that could be because all of the roads have not yet been built. Peripherals for additional usability should be built as nodes on networks, but those networks haven’t been built yet — give it a few more years, when the comms are built out and entry barriers come down.

Chris Baugh then brought up that access to space — the launch — remains the bottleneck.

Fred Kennedy — He said the launch environment depends on the market being looked at. Viewing the low end, there are a number of companies looking for rides. The little guys are coming in like gang busters and are working with firms that are aiming their services to them. The demand is out there, but may have shifted somewhat, and he tends to bank on the small stuff.

Carissa Christensen — There’s always more launch capability than is needed. That oversupply does not mean everyone can find a ride at the price they want. Challenges are the bus model versus the taxi model. The taxi price must come down and the service must be good enough to prove out that value propositions.

Mike Collett — The window for capital is now. Low interest rates have not yet opened the flood gates for the companies. Remarkable interest rates stay where they are. If those interest rates rise, things will dramatically change. The industry is currently enjoying the best fund raising environment for startups right now… develop something different and execute that plan well.

You don’t want to miss an opportunity to hear from these two leaders of the space industry…

This live presentation will occur on Wednesday, February 10, at 10:00 a.m., PST… register to attend this major industry trade show at this direct link.

A complete agenda list for this smallsat show of shows is available for viewing at this direct infolink…

For a deep dive into the speakers who will be presenting at SmallSat Symposium 2021, this would be the link to follow…

Editorial opportunities exist for virtual discussions and virtual exhibitor visits… please email “hartley@satnews.com” and “pattie@satnews.com” to schedule a meeting — see you at the show!

Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) successfully deployed 12 satellites on January 24, 2021. The SpaceX Falcon 9 ride-sharing mission carried three different, SFL-designed smallsat platforms into orbit for three separate commercial constellations.

The January 24 launch included:

• Three formation-flying, radio frequency geolocating microsatellites built upon SFL’s 30-kg DEFIANT platform for HawkEye 360 Inc. of Herndon, Virgina.

• One next-generation greenhouse gas monitoring microsatellite, known as GHGSat-C2 or “Hugo”, built by SFL on its 15 kg NEMO platform for GHGSat Inc. of Montreal, Canada.

• Eight commercial communications cubesats developed using the SFL 6U-XL SPARTAN design.

The deployment of the DEFIANT smallsat also marked the third entirely new smallsat platform developed by SFL to reach orbit in just the past five months. SFL’s SPARTAN bus was introduced for the first time on September 28, 2020, with the launch of two communications cubesats. Plus, SFL’s NAUTILUS smallsat platform made its debut on September 2, 2020, with the launch of the NEMO-HD Earth Observation (EO) mission for Slovenia.

Dating from 1998, SFL’s heritage of on-orbit successes includes 65 distinct missions related to Earth observation, atmospheric monitoring, ship tracking, communication, radio frequency (RF) geolocation, technology demonstration, space astronomy, solar physics, space plasma, and other scientific research.

GHGSat Inc. awarded SFL the development contract for GHGSat-C1 (“Iris”) and C2 (“Hugo”) after SFL built and launched the pathfinding GHGSat-D (“Claire”) atmospheric monitoring smallsat in 2016. Successful detection of ground-based methane emissions from space is due in part to the precise attitude control and target tracking capability of the SFL NEMO bus. In November of 2020, SFL was awarded a contract by GHGSat to build an additional three smallsats for the firm’s commercial, greenhouse gas monitoring constellation.

For HawkEye 360 Inc., SFL built platforms and integrated the HawkEye 360 Pathfinder cluster which was launched into LEO in December of 2018. Based on this success, SFL’s satellite technology was selected for the HawkEye 360 Constellation mission due to the importance of formation flying by multiple satellites for successful RF geolocation and analysis used in maritime situational awareness, national security operations, and many other applications. For the 2021 launch, the larger DEFIANT bus was developed by SFL to accommodate advanced onboard technologies.

In its 22-year history, SFL has developed smallsats that have achieved more than 135 cumulative years of operation in orbit. These smallsat missions have included SFL’s trusted attitude control and, in some cases, formation-flying capabilities. Other core SFL-developed components include modular (scalable) power systems, onboard radios, flight computers, and control software.

“These launches demonstrate SFL’s unmatched ability to innovate and deliver quality at any size on short schedules,” said SFL Director, Dr. Robert E. Zee. “SFL is a unique microspace provider that offers a complete suite of nano-, micro- and small satellites – including high-performance, low-cost cubesats – that satisfy the needs of a broad range of mission types from 3 to 500 kilograms.”

Small satellites built by SFL consistently push the performance envelope and disrupt the traditional cost paradigm. Satellites are built with advanced power systems, stringent attitude control and high-volume data capacity that are striking, relative to the budget. SFL arranges launches globally and maintains a mission control center accessing ground stations worldwide. The pioneering and barrier-breaking work of SFL is a key enabler to tomorrow’s cost aggressive satellite constellations.

Chief Executive Officer Mikhail Kokorich has resigned as the Director and Founder of Momentus.

The departure of Kokorich is see as the company attempting to ameliorate their regulatory reviews by the U.S. government, given that Kokorich is a Russian citizen and that fact had caused some concerns regarding foreign ownership of the company and US national security, especially as discussions by Momentus and Stable Road Acquisition have revolved around a potential merger of the two firms.

Taking Kokorich’s position is Dawn Harms who was the firm’s Chief Revenue Officer and is now the interim Chief Executive Officer as well as a member of the Momentus Board of Directors.

Exolaunch has announced a successful launch of 30 commercial, space agency and university satellites for the firm’s customers from Europe and the U.S. on the first dedicated rideshare mission of SpaceX’s SmallSat Rideshare Program. The mission, named “Zeitgeist,” lifted off on January 24 at 15:00 UTC on Falcon 9 “Transporter-1,” completing one of the largest and most diverse rideshare missions for Exolaunch.

Zeitgeist kicked-off the first of several rideshares Exolaunch will manifest on Falcon 9 as part of a multi-launch agreement with SpaceX. On this mission, Exolaunch provided deployment, mission management and integration services to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Dresden Technical University, ICEYE, NanoAvionics and other commercial companies for IoT, Earth observation and scientific applications.

Zeitgeist was Exolaunch’s 12th rideshare mission. As with previous launches, Exolaunch utilized its proprietary flight-proven separation systems – CarboNIX, the next generation shock-free separation system for microsatellites, upgraded modifications of EXOpod cubesat deployers, as well as its EXObox sequencers to flawlessly deploy its customers’ satellites into the target orbit. With this launch, Exolaunch has flown 140 smallsats on multiple launch vehicles. 

“This Zeitgeist mission set a new standard for rideshare launches and not only was a successful demonstration of Exolaunch’s capabilities, but also paved the way for smallsat developers from around the world to participate in SpaceX’s SmallSat Rideshare Program,” said Jeanne Medvedeva, Vice President of Launch Services at Exolaunch. “We are proud to be working with so many of the world’s leading satellite and technology companies to advance the NewSpace industry, and we are already looking ahead to additional Falcon 9 launches later this year.”   

Exolaunch’s manifest on the Transporter-1 mission (launch photo above, courtesy of SpaceX) includes the following satellites:

• Charlie nanosatellite built by NanoAvionics for Aurora Insight: The first of two nanosatellites, built and integrated by NanoAvionics for US radio frequency spectrum and wireless data provider Aurora Insight.
• CubeLCT nanosatellite from the German Aerospace Center (DLR): The CubeLCT is developed by DLR Institute of Communications and Navigation in close cooperation with its commercialization partner Tesat-Spacecom (TESAT) in Backnang. The satellite has been developed and integrated by the Danish company GomSpace. The development of the CubeLCT serves the demand for increasing bandwidth, resulting in new sensor capabilities on small satellites.
• SOMP-IIb (Student’s Oxygen Measurement Project) nanosatellite from Dresden Technical University: Part of a student small satellite project of the Dresden Technical University, the goal is to measure atomic oxygen of the upper atmosphere, test flexible solar cells and more.
• 3 x ICEYE satellites: Three more satellites of the commercial constellation of radar imaging satellites built and operated by ICEYE.
• 24 satellites from unnamed commercial customers. 

Exolaunch continues to make space more accessible through regular and cost-efficient rideshare missions for small satellites. In addition to successful satellite deployments from SpaceX’s Falcon 9, Exolaunch’s flight heritage includes Arianespace’s Soyuz-ST, RocketLab’s Electron, Roscosmos’ Soyuz-2 and a scheduled mission with ISRO’s PSLV later this year. 

With in-person gatherings still months away, SmallSat Symposium Virtual provides access to exciting new ideas as well as fosters a multitude of networking opportunities.

Whether your interest is in understanding the changing marketplace, connecting with others, or discovering new technologies, this year’s event is a unique opportunity to expand your business in the current environment.

SmallSat Symposium Virtual will be in sessions from February 8 to February 11… “Observe Networking Made Simple.“

UPDATE 2

Rocket Lab has successfully launched their 18th Electron mission, ‘Another One Leaves The Crust,’ on 20:26 NZDT / 07:26 UTC on January 20, 2021.

The launch was procured for OHB Group through OHB Cosmos International Launch Service GmbH, the launch service division of OHB Group. OHB Cosmos is responsible for launching the spacecraft built by the Group’s satellite manufacturers based in Germany, Sweden, and Czech Republic.

The mission was Rocket Lab’s 18^th Electron launch and brings the total number of satellites launched by the company to 97.

Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck, said, “Congratulations to our mission partners at OHB Group. We’re thrilled to have kicked off a busy year with a dedicated mission that once again demonstrates Electron’s unique ability to provide our small satellite customers with control over their mission schedule and orbital parameters.”  

Details about the customers onboard Rocket Lab’s 19^th Electron launch will be announced shortly.

‘Another One Leaves The Crust’ is the first mission in a busy launch manifest for 2021, which includes multiple dedicated and rideshare small satellite missions for government and commercial customers. This year will also see Rocket Lab launch a Photon mission to the Moon in support of NASA’s CAPSTONE program, and also launch the first missions from Rocket Lab’s two additional launch pads – Launch Complex 2 in Wallops, Virginia, and the new Pad B at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

UPDATE 1

Rocket Lab is currently targeting no earlier than 07:38, January 16 UTC for lift-off of our 18^th Electron launch, the ‘Another One Leaves The Crust’ mission.

Launch Window:

• NZT: 20:38 – 20:45 (16 Jan)
• UTC: 07:38 – 07:45 (16 Jan)
• ET: 02:38 – 02:45 (16 Jan)
• PT: 23:38 – 23:45 (15 Jan)

The company has backup opportunities available through January 25 should Rocket Lab need to stand down for any reason. For real time updates on launch day, keep an eye on Twitter @RocketLab.

Mission Information

• ‘Another One Leaves The Crust’ will launch a single communications satellite for OHB Group.
• The mission will be Rocket Lab’s 18th launch overall and first mission of 2020.
• Rocket Lab will not be attempting to recover Electron’s first stage for this mission. Stay tuned for details of our next recovery mission soon.

Original news story…

Rocket Lab has announced that their first Electron launch of the new year will be a dedicated mission for European space technology company OHB Group.

This dedicated mission, named ‘Another One Leaves the Crust,’ is scheduled for lift-off during a 10-day launch window that opens on January 16 NZT/UTC. Encapsulated inside Electron’s fairing will be a single communication smallsat that will enable specific frequencies to support future services from orbit.

The launch will be Rocket Lab’s 18th Electron mission and was procured for OHB Group through OHB Cosmos International Launch Service GmbH, the launch service division of OHB Group. OHB Cosmos is responsible for launching the spacecraft built by the Group’s satellite manufacturers based in Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

The mission will launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula to an initial elliptical orbit, then Electron’s Kick Stage will perform a series of burns with its relightable Curie engine to raise apogee and act as a space tug to deliver the OHB Cosmos’ payload to its precise orbital destination.

Following payload deployment, the Kick Stage will perform a de-orbit burn to lower its perigee where it will experience greater atmospheric drag, enabling it to re-enter and burn up faster to avoid becoming space junk. Rocket Lab will not be attempting to recover Electron’s first stage for this mission.

‘Another One Leaves the Crust’ is the first mission in a packed launch manifest for 2021, which includes multiple dedicated and rideshare small satellite missions for both government and commercial customers. This year will also see Rocket Lab launch a Photon mission to the Moon in support of NASA’s CAPSTONE program and also launch the first missions from Rocket Lab’s two additional launch pads – Launch Complex 2 in Wallops, Virginia, and the new Pad B at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO, Peter Beck, said, “We’re proud to be delivering a speedy and streamlined path to orbit for OHB Group on this mission, with launch taking place within six months of contract signing. By flying as a dedicated mission on Electron, OHB and their mission partners have control over launch timing, orbit, integration schedule, and other mission parameters.”