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Electron | The Owl's Night Begins (StriX-α)
Rocket LabLaunch Successful

The Owl's Night Begins (StriX-α)

Electron

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Historical mission record

This page records Electron | The Owl's Night Begins (StriX-α) and its reported outcome: Launch Successful. The date above is a historical record.

Source record updated . This is a source update, not a confirmed launch time.

Check the source: The Owl's Night Begins ↗ · Source ↗ · Launch Library ↗

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Launch is NET Dec 14 UTC due to weather

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Mission status
Launch Successful

Status reported by the mission data provider.

LAUNCH SITERocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Mission

StriX-α is a demonstration mission for Japanese company Synspective which plans to deploy a constellation of synthetic aperture radar satellites. For this mission, Rocket Lab will utilize a custom expanded fairing to encompass Synspective’s wide-body satellite – the first use of the expanded fairing options that Rocket Lab recently introduced.

Launch vehicle
Electron
Mission type
Earth Science
Destination orbit
Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Launch pad
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A
Provider
Rocket Lab

The vehicle

Published configuration and flight history.

Electron
Launch vehicle

Electron

Electron is a two-stage orbital expendable launch vehicle (with an optional third stage) developed by the American aerospace company Rocket Lab. Electron is a small-lift launch vehicle designed to launch small satellites and cubesats to sun-synchronous orbit and low earth orbit. The Electron is the first orbital class rocket to use electric-pump-fed engines, powered by the 9 Rutherford engines on the first stage. It is also used as a suborbital testbed (called HASTE) for hypersonics research.

Height
18 m
Diameter
1.2 m
Stages
3
Recorded launches
80
First flight
2017-05-25

Recorded timing

This is a mission record, not an upcoming calendar appointment.

Instantaneous windowPublished target
SCHEDULED MOMENT

A single scheduled moment. The schedule may change before launch.

Launch site & orbit

Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

The mission in perspective

Launch site & orbit

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Understand this orbit
NASA Blue Marble map of Earth's continents and oceans
Representative orbit · accelerated illustrationNo live tracking or simulated ascent. NASA Blue Marble.

Coverage & sources

Links supplied by the mission data provider.
Coverage and times may change.

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