NZ beats Australia to space
Rocket Lab launched its Electron rocket yesterday from the Māhia Peninsula, reaching space but failing to make it to
orbit.
ItsaTest rocket ©Rocket Lab
It was a rocky start, with Monday's launch postponed due to high winds, and further delays on Tuesday and Wednesday due
to high cloud. On Wednesday, Rocket Lab was particularly close, having fuelled the rocket and prepared it for flight,
only to cancel 12 minutes prior to launch.
These mid-week delays were due to concerns about tribolectrification, the build up of static charge from the friction of
the rocket against ice particles in high cloud.
Peter Beck, chief executive and founder of Rocket Lab, explained on Wednesday: "Because this is a test launch, our weather constraints are more restrictive than they will be during commercial
operations. We are focused on the best possible weather conditions for launch. This is so we can focus on testing the
rocket as a priority, rather than its ability to deal with adverse weather conditions.''
On Thursday, the Electron rocket dubbed 'ItsaTest' successfully blasted off the Māhia Peninsula at 4.20 pm, with Rocket Lab tweeting their success shortly after, marking the first entry into space from New Zealand soil and the first orbital-class rocket launched
from a private launch site.
In their press announcement a few hours later, Beck said: “It was a great flight. We had a great first stage burn, stage separation, second stage
ignition and fairing separation. We didn’t quite reach orbit and we’ll be investigating why."
But even without reaching orbit, "yesterday’s launch was a remarkable milestone for Rocket Lab" said Professor Richard Easther from the University of Auckland. "Achieving orbit on the first try would be a fairytale result with any completely new
launch vehicle and Rocket Lab came tantalisingly close to pulling this off".
George Sowers, former Chief Scientist and Vice-President of United Launch Alliance, said "the general record of the
launch industry for first flights of a new rocket is around 50%." The challenges facing Rocket Lab now are "can they
manufacture and launch repeatedly and reliability, on schedule?" and "are there enough customers willing to pay Rocket
Lab’s prices for them to achieve business success?"
There are two more test flights scheduled this year. The second test will target getting into orbit as well as the
amount of payload (satellite cargo) the rocket is able to carry.
Read our Q with international experts about the position of Rocket Lab in the satellite market, and our expert commentary on the launch itself.