An Electron rocket lifted off from Pad B at Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 4:38 p.m. east. The rocket’s kick stage deployed its payload, the StriX-1 satellite for the Japanese company Synspective, into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 563 kilometers about an hour later. The satellite is the third Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging satellite launched for Synspective, all on Electron rockets. StriX-1 is the first “pre-commercial” satellite after two demonstration satellites as the company prepares to build a constellation of up to 30 SAR satellites by 2026. StriX-1 features improvements to its batteries and communications system to to allow it to collect more images. The launch was the seventh Electron mission of the year and the company’s 30th overall. StriX-1 was the 150th satellite placed in orbit over these Electron missions. Rocket Lab did not attempt to recover the Electron first stage. The last attempt to do this was at a launch in May, when a helicopter briefly hugged the stage as it descended under a parachute, but had to let go due to unforeseen loads on the helicopter. Instead, the booster was recovered from the ocean after splashing up. During the webcast of the Strix-1 launch, the company said it will make another airborne recovery attempt later this year. Rocket Lab continued work on preparing reusable boosters. The company announced on September 1 that it test-fired a Rutherford engine from the booster recovered from the launch in May, proving that it worked with only “minimal” refurbishment after its first flight. “If we can achieve this high level of performance from engine parts recovered from the ocean, then I’m optimistic and incredibly excited about what we can do when we bring dry engines back under a helicopter next time,” said Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, said in a statement. Others in the small launch vehicle industry remain more cautious about the benefits of reusing such rockets. “Reuse, in my mind, always comes across as something super fancy and attractive, and obviously there’s also the appeal of something more environmentally friendly,” Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio, maker of the Vega, said during a panel at World. Satellite Business Week September 13. He argued that reuse made sense mainly for larger launch vehicles with a high flight rate. “The smaller the launcher and the lower the flight rate, the more it becomes useless,” he said. “I don’t see, technically, how on a 200kg yield launcher, reusability would be very convenient, especially if the flight rate tends to be about four or five launches a year.” “Reusability is something that’s going to be looked at,” said Jason Mello, president of Firefly Space Transport Services, a subsidiary of Firefly Aerospace. This includes both the company’s Alpha vehicle, which is about to make its second flight, and the future medium launch vehicle it is developing with Northrop Grumman. “We have to look at the business case and see what makes sense and what is that customer demand that we need,” he said. Dan Hart, chief executive of Virgin Orbit, said the company has looked into reusability for the LauncherOne rocket. “There are puts and takes there,” he said. “There are limitations and logistical complexities associated with reuse. However, if you take the material back and use it, there is definitely a benefit to it.” He said the company is looking at manufacturing improvements to reduce launch costs instead of relying on component reuse. “The exchange is pretty vague about whether reuse makes a lot of sense.” However, one part of the overall LauncherOne system is reusable: the Boeing 747 aircraft used as the air launch platform for the missile. “It’s flown over 8,500 times,” Hart said of the company’s plane. “So from a reusability standpoint, I think it’s a first.”
