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:
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!
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Curie ignition confirmed.
The people in mission control are wearing Santa/elf hats.
Edit: Curie cutoff and payload deployment confirmed.
SECO, third stage separation, and nominal transfer orbit. Curie engine burn in roughly 40 minutes.
Battery hotswap confirmed.
MECO, stage separation, stage 2 ignition, and fairing jettison confirmed.
Liftoff!
LOx load complete: https://x.com/RocketLab/status/1870458371494793632
Before and after LOx ❄️
T-60 minutes until lift-off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7VZB4pHJrQ
Well, that was a short webcast. Launch scrubbed for the day.
https://x.com/RocketLab/status/1869623681586274779
We made a list (of launch commit criteria), checked it twice (against the weather forecast), and determined conditions for lift-off were naughty not nice.
As a result we’re now targeting 21 Dec NZT for the launch of ‘Owl The Way Up’ for @Synspective.
⏰NZT | 3:00 am, 21 Dec
⏰PT | 6:00 am, 20 Dec
⏰ET | 9:00 am, 20 Dec
⏰UTC | 14:00, 20 DecHmm I don’t think I’ll watch this one live. I have work tomorrow 😆
Is this the last mission of the year?
Possibly. There are a couple more listed as “NET December 2024” on NextSpaceflight, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these slip to 2025.
What is NET in this context. No estimated time?
“No Earlier Than”, in this context.
By the way, the launch has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning :)
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!
so good chance of being next year then
Yep! And Murielle Baker just confirmed that this is their final launch of the year.
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?
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
