• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • NEWS:
  • SatNews
  • SatMagazine
  • MilSatMagazine
  • SmallSat News
  • |     EVENTS:
  • SmallSat Symposium
  • Satellite Innovation
  • MilSat Symposium

SatNews

  • HOME
  • Magazines
  • Events
  • Perspectives
  • Industry Calendar
    • IN PERSON
    • VIRTUAL
  • Subscribe

Rocket Lab increases space systems offerings for smallsats

February 9, 2023

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”) has released two, new, high-performance space systems products designed to increase the availability of essential satellite components to the global, small satellite market.

Bolstering the company’s existing line of proven satellite components, the new Rocket Lab products include the Frontier-X software defined radio (SDR) designed to provide high speed data for near Earth and deep space smallsat missions, as well as a new 12Nms reaction wheel designed specifically for constellation class satellites.

The products join Rocket Lab’s existing heritage space systems components including star trackers, reaction wheels, separation systems, radios, flight software, ground software, and solar power solutions. Combined, Rocket Lab’s space systems components have supported more than 1,700 space missions to date.

Enabling Smalllsat Deep Space Missions
Rocket Lab’s new Frontier-X radio is a high-speed, X-band ranging, RF transceiver designed to expand the reach of small satellites beyond LEO to cislunar and deep space destinations as well as provide an affordable alternative for mission payload downlink at LEO.

The Rocket Lab Frontier-X radio joins the Frontier-S ranging RF transceiver in bringing advanced functionality not typically available in affordable software-defined radios. This includes a coherent transponder to enable radiometric navigation methods, precision timekeeping functions, turbo and convolutional encoding compliant with recommended standards by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS), and a hardware-based, critical command decoder (CCD).

The X-band radio packs Deep Space Network (DSN) waveforms, two-way doppler and regenerative ranging, beacon modes, and low baud rates enabled by low power digital signal processing (DSP) in a low mass solution. The Fronter-X radio has the durability to survive in high radiation environments beyond Earth orbit, including to GEO and deep space.

Rocket Lab’s Frontier radios are based on the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Applied Physics Laboratory’s (APL) Frontier Radio and backed by proven flight heritage, having successfully flown the Frontier-S on the Company’s Photon spacecraft, a Rocket Lab designed and launched spacecraft that deployed the CAPSTONE satellite to the Moon for NASA.

The Frontier-X radio has completed qualification, is slated to fly on NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission to Mars, for which Rocket Lab is developing and building two spacecraft. Frontier-X is available for order now with production taking place at Rocket Lab’s headquarters in Long Beach.

Constellation-Class Reaction Wheel
Building upon strong space heritage and extensive experience across decades of reaction wheel production with Sinclair Interplanetary by Rocket Lab, the new 12Nms reaction wheel has been developed to expand attitude control solutions that already include reaction wheels ranging from 10mNms to 1Nms and high-performance star trackers.

Rocket Lab’s 12Nms reaction wheel, designed for long-life and reliability, is ideal for attitude control of spacecraft with masses as high as 600 to 650 kg and lifetimes as long as 12 years. With its low mass, power, and volume, the 12Nms reaction wheel caters to high mission assurance civil or national security missions as well as high volume constellation missions.

The 12Nms wheel comes in a radiation hardened variant for longer life and a LEO variant for shorter lifetime missions. The 12Nms wheel is currently planned for flight with an undisclosed large mega constellation customer.

Rocket Lab’s reaction wheels have been used in more than 100 satellites to date for missions and constellations focused on remote sensing, communications, science, technology demonstrations, and more. The 12Nms reaction wheel is under production and available immediately.

Filed Under: Cislunar, Critical Command Decoder (CCD), Deep Space Network, Johns Hopkins APL, LEO, Reaction Wheels, RF Transceiver, Rocket Lab, SDR, SmallSat, Space Systems

Primary Sidebar

Most Read Stories

  • UPDATE: SpaceX launches 2 in 1 day... Inmarsat 6-F2 satellite launched from Florida and 51 Starlink satellites from California
  • UPDATE 3: Rocket Lab's Electron drives two Capella SAR sats to orbit from MARS launch site
  • LATEST UPDATE: On their way as NASA's CREW-6's human spaceflight mission to ISS is successful
  • UPDATE: Rocket Lab plans two launches that will be days apart from two continents for two companies: Capella Space + BlackSky
  • UPDATE: Rocket Lab launches 35th Electron + sets new company record for fastest launch turnaround

About Satnews

  • Contacts
  • History

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020

Secondary Sidebar

x
Sign up Now (For Free)
Access daily or weekly satellite news updates covering all aspects of the commercial and military satellite industry.
Invalid email address
Notify Me Regarding ( At least one ):
We value your privacy and will not sell or share your email or other information with any other company. You may also unsubscribe at anytime.

Click Here to see our full privacy policy.
Thanks for subscribing!