Rocket Lab today announces a new customer contract with Spaceflight, the launch services and mission management provider. Spaceflight has purchased an Electron rocket to increase the frequency of its dedicated rideshare missions.
Dedicated rideshare for smallsats is a launch where several payloads share the same vehicle to a specific destination. An entirely carbon-composite vehicle, designed to carry payloads of 225kg to an elliptical orbit and up to 150kg to a nominal 500km sun synchronous low earth orbit, the Electron is ideal for dedicated rideshare missions. It is especially suited to those serving difficult-to-come-by launch destinations, such as mid-inclination orbits for remote sensing satellites.
Curt Blake, President of Spaceflight’s launch business, said, “There are numerous rideshare launches each year to Sun Synchronous Orbit, but getting to 45 to 60 degrees is hard to find, and can cost the equivalent of buying an entire rocket. We are thrilled to be working with Rocket Lab to enable our customers’ remote sensing missions that require high revisit time over North America, Europe, and the Middle East.”
Peter Beck, Rocket Lab CEO, added, “We are incredibly excited about the upcoming test launch of the Electron, which will take us one step closer towards the commercial phase of our program. We are delighted that Spaceflight has chosen to sign up as a customer ahead of testing, reflecting confidence in Electron and its ability to provide frequent launch opportunities to low Earth orbit.”
