Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has delivered its 30th mission and 150th satellite to orbit following the company’s latest successful Electron launch Thursday, September 15 at 20:38 UTC.
“The Owl Spreads Its Wings” dedicated mission for Japanese EO company Synspective launched on the Electron rocket from Pad B at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 at 20:38 UTC, September 15, 2022. The mission successfully deployed a single spacecraft, the StriX-1 satellite, to a 563 km. circular Earth orbit where it will join other StriX satellites launched by Rocket Lab in February of 2022 and December of 2020 as part of Synspective’s EO satellite constellation.
“The Owl Spreads Its Wings” is Rocket Lab’s seventh Electron launch this year with a 100% mission success rate for 2022. With today’s 30th Electron launch and 150th satellite delivered to orbit, the mission also marked the 300th Rutherford engine flown to space on Electron. Designed and built by Rocket Lab, Rutherford is the world’s first 3D-printed, electric pump-fed orbital rocket engine. Earlier this month Rocket Lab successfully test fired a reused Rutherford first stage engine for the first time. This is a significant technical achievement as Rocket Lab develops Electron into the world’s first reusable orbital small rocket.
The Electron launch vehicle has become the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered 150 satellites to orbit for private and public sector organizations, national security, scientific research, space debris mitigation, EO, climate monitoring, and communications.
Among the Company’s scheduled missions on the 2022 manifest is another attempt at recovering an Electron rocket with a helicopter and the first Electron mission from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2 in Wallops Island, Virginia. Rocket Lab has three launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch pads at a private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a second launch site in Virginia.