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Four Of A Kind Press Kit

Official Mission Press Kit

Four Of A Kind (NorthStar 1)

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Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Space Situational Awareness

Low Earth Orbit Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
43 - Pacific Ocean

Four space situational awareness (SSA) satellites for Canadian company NorthStar Earth and Space.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 31, 2024, 9:08 a.m.

Launch success.


Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 31, 2024, 6:35 a.m.

Liftoff.


Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 31, 2024, 6:07 a.m.

New T-0.


LL2 • Jan. 31, 2024, 5:50 a.m.

Livestream has started


SwGustav • Jan. 31, 2024, 12:45 a.m.

Adjusting T-0


Electron

Family:
Configuration:

Electron is a two-stage orbital expendable launch vehicle (with an optional third stage) developed by the American aerospace company Rocket Lab. Electron is a small-lift launch vehicle designed to launch small satellites and cubesats to sun-synchronous orbit and low earth orbit. The Electron is the first orbital class rocket to use electric-pump-fed engines, powered by the 9 Rutherford engines on the first stage. It is also used as a suborbital testbed (called HASTE) for hypersonics research.

See Details
Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    2
  • Max Stage
    3
  • Length
    18.0 m
  • Diameter
    1.2 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    1.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    13.0 T
  • Thrust
    162.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Electron
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Electron
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $6000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    300.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    225.0 kg

Booster Info


43

Status: Active


Type: Core
Flight Proven: No
First Flight: January 31, 2024
Last Flight: January 31, 2024
Flights: 1
Landings Attempted: 1
Landings Successful: 1

Landing Information

The Electron booster was successfully recovered after a soft parachute splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Result: Successful Parachute Landing landing at Pacific Ocean.

Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab

(RL)

CEO: Peter Beck Founded: 2006 Successes: 56 Failures: 4 Pending: 36

Agency Type:

Rocket Lab is an American aerospace manufacturer with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. The company develops lightweight, cost-effective commercial rocket launch services. The Electron Program was founded on the premise that small payloads such as CubeSats require dedicated small launch vehicles and flexibility not currently offered by traditional rocket systems. Its rocket, the Electron, is a light-weight rocket and is now operating commercially. The company is also producing a variety of spacecrafts and spacecrafts components.

INFO WIKI

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Electron launches NorthStar satellites in latest recovery test

Rocket Lab launched the first four satellites for space situational awareness (SSA) company NorthStar Earth and Space Jan. 31 in another test for the company’s efforts to recover and eventually reuse Electron boosters.

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Rocket Lab set to kickoff 2024 with “Four of a Kind” satellite mission

Rocket Lab is preparing for its first launch of 2024, with its Electron launch vehicle poised to launch four Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites into low-Earth orbit from the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand. Named “Four of a Kind,”…

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Canada’s NorthStar Earth and Space has signed a multi-launch deal with Rocket Lab after Virgin Orbit’s bankruptcy shattered plans to start deploying its space situational awareness (SSA) satellites this summer.

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