Owl The Way Up

Scheduled for (UTC) 2024-12-21 14:13
Scheduled for (NZDT) 2024-12-22 03:13
Launch site Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand
Booster recovery No
Launch vehicle Electron + Curie
Customers Synspective
Payload StriX satellite
Mission success criteria Successful deployment of spacecraft into Sun-Synchronous Orbit

Livestreams

Stream Link
Rocket Lab (official) https://www.youtube.com/@RocketLabNZ/streams (scrub)
Space Affairs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K18IPBBMxxE (scrub)
The Launch Pad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lgi4-3pKK4

Stats

  • This will be the 16th launch for Rocket Lab this year.
  • This will be the 58th overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

This is the second of a bulk buy of two Electron launches by Synspective to deliver their StriX satellites to low Earth orbit. StriX satellites can collect data with a ground resolution of 1-3m and a swath width of more than 10-30km. Each Electron launch will deliver 1 StriX satellite into orbit. This will be the overall 6th StriX satellite launched by Rocket Lab for Synspective.

Previous mission: Stonehenge

Next mission: TBD

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively new community, so feedback is very valuable!

  • threelonmusketeersOPMEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    Possibly. There are a couple more listed as “NET December 2024” on NextSpaceflight, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these slip to 2025.

      • threelonmusketeersOPMEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        “No Earlier Than”, in this context.

        By the way, the launch has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning :)

        • Dave@lemmy.nzM
          2·
          2 days ago

          Ah OK, so good chance of being next year then.

          Rescheduled for tomorrow morning but it’s still 3am 😆. I struggle to stay up to midnight these days!

          • threelonmusketeersOPMEnglish
            2·
            15 hours ago

            so good chance of being next year then

            Yep! And Murielle Baker just confirmed that this is their final launch of the year.

            • Dave@lemmy.nzM
              2·
              11 hours ago

              I watched the launch coverage this morning after I woke up. Do other companies do funny things like checking in with the north pole on the preflight checks or is RocketLab a bit unique like that?

              • threelonmusketeersOPMEnglish
                2·
                10 hours ago

                I think that particular preflight check might have been added due to launch date’s proximity to Christmas :)

                I don’t recall any other launch providers including a north pole preflight check, but Firefly included a “pointy end up, flamey end down” check when they partnered with Everyday Astronaut to livestream their first launch.

                Edit; found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HfHAazNM3Q&t=1095s