Owl Night Long
Well folks, it’s time for another Rocket Lab launch, and the first launch thread in this new community!
| Scheduled for UTC | 2024-03-12 15:03 |
|---|---|
| Scheduled for (local) | 2024-03-13 04:03 (NZDT) |
| Launch site | LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand. |
| Booster recovery | No |
| Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie |
| Customer | Synspective |
| Payload | StriX-3 (100 kg) |
| Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into Sun-Synchronous Orbit |
Livestreams
| Stream | Link |
|---|---|
| Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF9cWWkSlsQ |
| Everyday Astronaut | |
| Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gclLUKCSbdM |
| The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRz-JX97NP4 |
Stats
- This will be the 3rd launch for Rocket Lab this year.
- This will be the 45th overall launch for Rocket Lab.
Payload info:
This is the third of a bulk buy of three 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.
Previous mission (On Closer Inspection) | Next mission (Live and Let Fly (NROL-123))
Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a brand new community, so feedback is very valuable!
It depends on what specific sun synchronous orbit is desired (e.g. noon/midnight orbit vs. dawn/dusk orbit),
and what time of year the launch occurs.The launch time will drift by ~4 minutes earlier per day over the course of the year. If you want to launch into the same SSO 3 months later, you have to launch ~6 hours earlier in the day.Edit: I was mistaken.
The sidereal day you linked to says it’s about being synced with the celestial sphere (position of the stars). Not the sun?
I would have thought if you want to be in the sun, you’d need to launch to get to the same position at the same time relative to sunrise. I don’t really understand how the 4 minute drift happens for solar synchronous orbits?
Upon reflection, I believe you are correct and I was mistaken. For SSO, launch time would be relative to solar time (sunrise) NOT sidereal time (stars). Whoops :)