Rocket Lab successfully completes first commercial launch

Private spaceflight company Rocket Lab successfully completes first commercial launch of Electron rocket sending seven payloads into orbit

  • Start-up sent one of its 56 feet (17m) Electron rockets from Mahia Peninsula
  • The US owned company successfully launched seven payloads into orbit 
  • Dozens of start ups are developing rockets to send small satellites into orbit
  • Rocket Lab created in 2006 completed its first successful test flight in January
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Private spaceflight company Rocket Lab has launched its first commercial delivery to space, successfully sending seven payloads into orbit.

The start-up launched a 56 foot (17-metre) rocket from the Mahia Peninsula in the North Island, New Zealand, as part of a new nanotechnology space race.

The mission was named ‘It’s Business Time’ and has now put the company in a dominant position in the fast-growing market for flying small satellites into space.

On board were seven space craft equipped with small satellites and one drag sail named NABEO – designed to retire inactive satellites to help combat space junk. 

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Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula, reaching orbit in 45 minutes and releasing seven payloads 

The US and New Zealand-owned Rocket Lab runs the world’s first privately-owned launch facility.

It focuses on delivering small payloads, such as research satellites, into orbit at low costs.

Rocket Lab’s creation has a black carbon composite fuselage with ‘Electron’ emblazoned on the side in white lettering. 

The Electron – which is about a quarter the size of SpaceX’s 230ft (70m) tall Falcon 9 – released the payload about 45 minutes after the launch.

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The rocket is designed to carry smaller payloads of around 150 to 225kg (330 to 495lb) compared to SpaceX’s 23 tons (46,000lbs).

Although the going-rate for deliveries is much lower for SpaceX, customers are flocking to Rocket Lab for reduced wait time and speedier deliveries. 

Sunday’s live-streamed take-off was the third attempt at the mission after technical difficulties in April and June.

The mission’s final payload was two miniature satellites – or ‘Cube Sats’ as they’ve been dubbed – used for research purposes from South Australia’s Fleet Space Technologies.


The Electron rocket was launched from the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The mission was named ‘It’s Business Time’. On board there were seven spacecraft, mostly small satellites

The firm completed a successful test launch with one of its Electron rockets in January when it deployed three satellites.

Its engine is produced by a 3D printer in California, a move that helped cut costs, the company’s chief financial officer Adam Spice told AFP. 

Earlier this year Rocket Lab founder and chief Peter Beck described the mission as a milestone in the global space industry and said it marked the beginning of commercial operations to get small satellites into orbit.

The company has six Electron rockets in production and is said to have rapidly scaled up production at its California headquarters to meet ever-growing bookings for this year and next. 

Rocket Lab are also constructing a second pad on the East Coast of the US.


The New Zealand-based start-up launched a 56 foot (17-metre) rocket from the Mahia Peninsula on the North Island as part of the new nanotechnology space race


Electron is designed to carry smaller payloads around 150 to 225 kg (330 to 495 lb), and the company intends to start ramping up its launches in 2019

Rocket Lab hopes to complete a launch every two weeks in 2019 and weekly in 2020. 

The company say that the schedule for the next mission will be announced shortly.

The new nanotechnology space race started about a decade ago and focuses more on private innovation rather than competition between rival countries.

The company’s nearest competitors in the small rocket sector, including Virgin Orbit and Stratolaunch, now face even more pressure to get into orbit.


The launch followed January’s successful test flight  where it deployed three satellites. Companies are paying around £31,000 ($40,000) a kilo to get delivered into orbit

The customers who used the most recent vehicle included Spire, a company that uses satellites to track ships, planes and weather from orbit and Fleet Space systems which hopes to provide communications for internet.

These smaller rockets should help reduce launch wait times from 18 to 24 months or more, at the bigger companies, to a mere six months.

The going rate at Rocket Lab is about £31,000 ($40,000) a kilo, as compared with £2,300 ($3,000) a kilo at SpaceX.


This image shows the rock on the launch pad in Mahia, New Zealand in June 2018. Rocket Lab’s creation has a black carbon composite fuselage with ‘Electron’ on the side in white lettering


The two-stage Falcon 9 operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX is 230ft (70m) tall is more than four times bigger than the Electron and can carry 23 tons of cargo into space, as opposed to a maximum of 550lbs (250kg) for the Electron. Pictured – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket takes off

ARE TINY ROCKETS THE FUTURE OF SPACE EXPLORATION?

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is the latest firm to join the movement of launching tiny rockets.

JAXA successfully launched its ultra-small SS-520 in February 2018, making it one of the first to make headway in launching a tiny rocket.

The SS-520 was also carrying a 13.6-inch satellite that’s now orbiting the earth. 

NASA has also embraced super small satellites.

The agency said in 2016 it wants to launch a ‘swarm’ of tiny satellites that can track weather and climate change patterns. 

Private space company Rocket Lab has been working to launch its small rocket, with a likely launch date of November 2018.

The rocket, called Electron, will have three payloads on board: an imaging satellite and two tracking satellites.

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