13 hours ago

Watch Rocket Lab launch secret satellite to orbit today

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.

 A Rocket Lab Electron booster carrying 13 NASA satellites, including 10 cubesats for agency's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites program, lifts off from the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island on Dec. 16, 2018 on the ElaNa-19 mission.

Credit: Rocket Lab

Editor's note: Today's launch has been scrubbed due to high winds. "Standing down from today’s launch attempt due to upper level winds exceeding our launch criteria. Standby for the next launch opportunity in the coming days," Rocket Lab wrote in a post on X.


Rocket Lab will launch a mysterious satellite early Friday morning (June 20), and you can watch the action live.

An Electron rocket topped with a single spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Friday at 5:24 a.m. EDT (0924 GMT; 9:24 p.m. local New Zealand time).

Rocket Lab will livestream the event, starting 30 minutes before launch. Space.com will carry the feed as well.

The mission, which Rocket Lab calls "Symphony in the Stars," will send a satellite to a circular orbit 650 kilometers (404 miles) above Earth, if all goes according to plan.

"Symphony in the Stars" is the first of two missions for "a confidential commercial customer," Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description. The second of those flights is expected to launch this year as well.

And that's pretty much all of the information the company has revealed about Friday's mission; for example, we don't know what the satellite will do once it reaches orbit.

Related Stories:

Rocket Lab launches new NASA solar sail tech to orbit (video, photos)

Rocket Lab launches private Earth-observing radar satellite to orbit (video, photos)

Rocket Lab launches 5 'Internet of Things' satellites to orbit (video)

"Symphony in the Stars" will be the ninth mission of 2025 and 67th liftoff overall for Electron, a 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) rocket that gives small satellites dedicated rides to orbit.

Rocket Lab is also developing a larger, partially reusable rocket called Neutron, which is expected to debut sometime this year.

Read Entire Article

Comments

News Networks