Electron F24 - StriX-β - Mahia LC-1B - 28 February 2022 (20:37 UTC)

[Conexion Espacial]

Electron is scheduled to launch the “The Owl’s Night Continues” mission from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand during a launch window that opens February 27, 2022 UTC (20:37 UTC).


https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/1491557750601445381

[Conexion Espacial]

This mission has been rescheduled to an earlier launch date, so the Without Mission a Beat mission has been delayed.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220209006197/en/Rocket-Lab-Brings-Forward-Launch-for-Earth-Imaging-Company-Synspective

‘The Owl’s Night Continues’ is the first of three dedicated Electron missions for Synspective, with two scheduled to launch in 2022 and a third in 2023. Each mission will deploy a single StriX satellite, growing Synspective’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation developed to deliver imagery that can detect millimetre-level changes to the Earth’s surface from space, independent of weather conditions on Earth and at any time of the day or night.

‘The Owl’s Night Continues’ mission follows on from Rocket Lab’s first launch for Synspective in December 2020. That mission, named ‘The Owl’s Night Begins’, saw Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle deploy the StriX-α satellite – the first spacecraft in Synspective’s planned constellation of more than 30 SAR satellites designed to collate data of metropolitan centers on a daily basis to support urban development planning, construction and infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

This is for StriX-β.

[Conexion Espacial]

More information about the mission, the Press Kit has not been published yet.
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/next-mission/

[Bean Kenobi]

Electron is scheduled to launch the “The Owl’s Night Continues” mission from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand during a launch window that opens February 27, 2022 UTC (20:35 UTC).

Tweet says window opens on Feb 28 UTC, so it can't be on Feb 27 UTC 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Electron is scheduled to launch the “The Owl’s Night Continues” mission from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand during a launch window that opens February 27, 2022 UTC (20:35 UTC).

Tweet says window opens on Feb 28 UTC, so it can't be on Feb 27 UTC 

https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/next-mission/

 

[Bean Kenobi]

Electron is scheduled to launch the “The Owl’s Night Continues” mission from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand during a launch window that opens February 27, 2022 UTC (20:35 UTC).

Tweet says window opens on Feb 28 UTC, so it can't be on Feb 27 UTC 

But, yes, I noticed https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/next-mission/ says both Feb 27 UTC and Feb 28 UTC for window opening.

I think Feb 27 is a mistake.

Launch Window NET February 27, 2022 UTC

Electron is scheduled to launch "The Owl's Night Continues” mission from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand during a launch window that opens February 28, 2022 UTC.

[XRZ.YZ]

https://synspective.com/press-release/2022/strix-b_launch_mission_01/

target Orbit 561KM SSO

[Conexion Espacial]

https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/1493664522954936323

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Launch has slipped by one day.

Notice of the Launch Schedule Change for our SAR Satellite “StriX-β”
[Information]

TOKYO, 2022, February 22th – Synspective Inc., a SAR satellite data and related solutions provider, announced today that the launch schedule of its second SAR Satellite “StriX-β” had been changed as followed.


Launch Date (New)   February 28th, 2022 (UTC) / March 1st, 2022(JST)
Launch Time   20:35 (UTC) / 5:35 AM (JST)
Launch Window   2 weeks from Feb 27th (UTC）
 

Whether or not the launch on March 1st will be possible will be discussed and determined again based on future weather conditions. If changes apply, we will inform you at the earliest opportunity through our official website or Linkedin page.

You can also refer to our StriX-β Launch Mission Page for the latest information and more details.
StriX-β Launch Mission Page URL: https://synspective.com/mission2/

[Ken the Bin]

NGA notices.  They do not reflect the postponement given above.

220936Z FEB 22
HYDROPAC 460/22(76).
WESTERN SOUTH PACIFIC. 
NEW ZEALAND. 
DNC 06. 
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING 
   271835Z FEB TO 122110Z MAR
   IN AREA BOUND BY
   39-12S 177-51E, 39-12S 178-00E,
   39-18S 178-03E, 39-42S 178-00E,
   39-42S 177-42E, 39-18S 177-48E,
   39-15S 177-48E. 
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 122210Z MAR 22.

220931Z FEB 22
HYDROPAC 459/22(76).
WESTERN SOUTH PACIFIC. 
NEW ZEALAND. 
DNC 06. 
1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS
   271835Z FEB TO 122110Z MAR 
   IN AREAS BOUND BY:
   A. 46-42S 174-54E, 43-30S 175-30E,
      43-33S 177-24E, 46-48S 176-57E.
   B. 56-06S 171-03E, 52-42S 172-27E,
      52-45S 173-48E, 56-15S 172-36E.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 122210Z MAR 22.

[Conexion Espacial]

Rocket Lab has confirmed that this mission will be launched from the new LC-1B launch pad.https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/1496482933808373763

[Conexion Espacial]

Strange that we are two days away from Electron's launch and we don't have the Press Kit or the launch window.

[Bean Kenobi]

Strange that we are two days away from Electron's launch and we don't have the Press Kit or the launch window.

Launch window is announced here : https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/next-mission/

It opens at 20:35 UTC.

[Conexion Espacial]

Strange that we are two days away from Electron's launch and we don't have the Press Kit or the launch window.

Launch window is announced here : https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/next-mission/

It opens at 20:35 UTC.

But it doesn't say the full window, unless I'm mistaken and it is an instant window.

[trimeta]

Rocket Lab did tweet yesterday confirming the start of the launch window, if you were worried that a lack of communication is ominous:

https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/1497361306772402176

[russianhalo117]

Livestream:

[Ken the Bin]

Press Kit: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/assets/Uploads/Rocket-Lab-The-Owls-Night-Continues-Press-Kit.pdf

From the press kit, in reference to the 20:35 UTC launch time:

There is a five-minute window for launch.
It remains the same across all 14-days of
the launch window.

[Conexion Espacial]

https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/1498330260806389762

[pb2000]

T-15mins

Stream is live.

[whitelancer64]

Audio dropped out, but the Go-No Go poll is completed, they are Go for launch.

T-5 minutes

[jdon759]

Max-Q

[zubenelgenubi]

Lift-off and early flight.

[jdon759]

MECO and Staging 1-2.

[jdon759]

Fairings.

[zubenelgenubi]

Max-Q

.

[jdon759]

Battery Hotswap & Jettison

[zubenelgenubi]

MECO and Staging 1-2.

Fairings.

.

[jdon759]

SECO

Now coasting.  Elliptical parking orbit.

[zubenelgenubi]

Battery Hotswap & Jettison

Look at the picture junction between Earth, space, and engine bell.

[zubenelgenubi]

SECO

.

[zubenelgenubi]

Good elliptical transfer orbit.  Next burn at apogee to circularize orbit before satellite separation.

Funky? RocketLab music. 🎶

[LouScheffer]

On this mission, the fairings dropped off at about 105 km, which is fairly typical.  Presumably RocketLab would drop them earlier if they could, to increase performance and margins.  But they did not, which makes me think the fairing deploy is set by payload constraints.  But this in turn makes me wonder about how Neutron will fare, since it wlll need to expose the payload to space at a much lower altitude.

[Zed_Noir]

....
Funky? RocketLab music....

Free elevator music courtesy of Everyday Astronaut.    From on screen credit labels during webcast.

[zubenelgenubi]

Second second stage burn completed.

Successful satellite separation.

Sign-off.

Congratulations to the launch campaign team!
Thanks, jdon759.

[OneSpeed]

Here is a comparison of the two Rocket Lab missions for Synspective, 'The Owl's Night Begins' (Electron F17), and 'The Owl's Night Continues' (Electron F24).

Both missions were to SSO, and below I've mapped the F24 launch hazard areas from the NGA notices upthread.

There are several differences in the webcast telemetry, including:

1. F24 throttled back less for MaxQ.
2. F24 didn't throttle back at all for S1 terminal guidance.
3. F24 had a shorter S1 burn, with more loft, but less velocity and altitude at MECO.
4. The F24 S2 burnt at a lower acceleration generally, but for longer, using the enhanced batteries mentioned in the webcast commentary to provide more overall S2 impulse.

[ZuluLima]

Today's launch also featured the red recovery/reuse rings on the Electron, but on the webcast it was mentioned that there would be no recovery attempt, they were just testing some of the components and still expect to attempt a heli-catch in the coming months.

[input~2]

2022-020A/51847 in 555 x 573 km x 97.78°
2022-020B/51848 in 474 x 558 km x 97.09°
2022-020C/51849 in 182 x 606 km x 97.73°

[JuaniX]

Launch time table time!

The time to the second, from here:
https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/02/28/rocket-lab-debuts-new-launch-pad-deploys-japanese-radar-satellite/

...
Launch occurred at 3:37:25 p.m. EST (2037 GMT) Monday, or 9:37 a.m. New Zealand time Tuesday.
...

Rocket Lab's webcast, for listening to the calls for the events (or watch them).
https://youtube.com/watch?v=MjfNJjTyfKY

T+min:sec      UTC            Event
  00:00:00      20:37:25      Lift-off
+00:01:08      20:38:33      Max Q
+00:02:24      20:39:49      MECO (time's approximative)
+00:02:27      20:39:52      Stage separation
+00:02:30      20:39:55      SES-1
+00:03:03      20:40:28      Fairing separation
+00:06:12      20:43:37      Battery jettison
+00:09:16      20:46:41      SECO-1
+00:09:22      20:46:47      Kickstage separation (time's approximative)
+00:49:20      21:26:45      Curie burn
+00:53:54      21:31:19      Satellite deployment

Enjoy!

[TrevorMonty]

We might see a few more of these satellites launch on Electron as they had planned to use Soyzu. Targeting an initial constellation of 6 satellites in next year or two, with 30 being long term goal over coming years.


Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk

[Trypto]

We might see a few more of these satellites launch on Electron as they had planned to use Soyzu. Targeting an initial constellation of 6 satellites in next year or two, with 30 being long term goal over coming years.


Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk

Recent $100M Series B raise goes to show the usefulness of dedicated small launch in accelerating a company's business plan.

[Liss]

Object B (Electron Kick Stage) seems to disappear from orbit since March 31.