Two satellites for BlackSky’s Earth observation constellation were lost today when the second stage of Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle suffered an anomaly, just minutes after liftoff from New Zealand.
Rocket Lab said the mission failure was under investigation. “The issue occurred shortly after stage two ignition,” the company said in a tweet.
The live stream for launch showed what appeared to be a successful launch at 11:11 p.m. New Zealand time (4:11 a.m. PT), followed by a stage separation that went according to plan. However, it looked as if the second stage’s rocket engine shut down and failed to push the satellites to orbit.
Previously: Seattle’s space industry plays leading role in building BlackSky’s Earth-observing network
The satellites were built by Tukwila, Wash.-based LeoStella for BlackSky, which splits its staff between offices in Seattle and Herndon, Va. Pre-launch logistics for the mission were handled by Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc.
“We are deeply sorry to our customers Spaceflight Inc. and BlackSky for the loss of their payloads,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in a statement. “We understand the monumental effort that goes into every spacecraft and we feel their loss and disappointment.”
In a tweet, Spaceflight Inc. said it was a “sad day.”
“We are devastated for our customer @BlackSky_Inc at the loss of this mission,” the company said. We’ve reached out to Spaceflight Inc., BlackSky and LeoStella and will update this story with any further information.
Rocket Lab — which has its U.S. headquarters in Long Beach, Calif., but launches its Electron rockets from New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula — said it would work closely with the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate the anomaly, identify the root cause and correct the issue for future missions.
“On one of our toughest days, our team operated with professionalism and worked swiftly to ensure the anomaly was managed safely,” Beck said. “We will learn from this, and we’ll be back on the pad again.”
BlackSky and LeoStella have several more satellites in the pipeline for Rocket Lab launches scheduled later this year. The anomaly investigation seems certain to force postponement for those launches.
This mission, nicknamed “Running Out of Toes,” marked the 20th orbital launch attempt for Rocket Lab, a space startup that’s preparing for a blank-check merger deal valued at $4.1 billion. Seventeen of those attempts have been successful.
The two previous failures came in 2017 after Rocket Lab’s first liftoff (due to a software glitch) and last July during the launch of multiple satellites (due to a faulty electrical connection).
Today’s mission was also meant to test procedures that will eventually allow for reuse of the Electron rocket’s first-stage booster. That part of the mission, which involved a “soft splashdown” of the booster into the Pacific Ocean and its recovery from the sea, appeared to meet Rocket Lab’s expectations.
from GeekWire https://www.geekwire.com/2021/blacksky-earth-observing-satellites-lost-due-anomaly-rocket-lab-launch/