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Electron | Beginning Of The Swarm (ACS3 & NeonSat-1)
Rocket LabLaunch Successful

Beginning Of The Swarm (ACS3 & NeonSat-1)

Electron

Historical mission record

This page records Electron | Beginning Of The Swarm (ACS3 & NeonSat-1) 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: www.rocketlabusa.com ↗ · Launch Library ↗

How to read launch targets and status

The latest on this mission

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Launch success.

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Both payloads have been deployed.

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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

NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) is a technology demonstration mission tasked with deploying a composite boom solar sail. NeonSat-1 is a high-resolution optical satellite by South Korea's KAIST that will be deployed as a technology demonstration for a planned future Earth observation constellation.

Launch vehicle
Electron
Mission type
Dedicated Rideshare
Destination orbit
Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Launch pad
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B
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.

1h windowPublished target
WINDOW OPENS
WINDOW CLOSES

Target ·

The target marker shows its position within the published window. The schedule may change before launch.

Flight timeline

Planned sequence, not live telemetry. Times are relative to the launch target.

  1. T−00:02:00

    Startup

  2. T−00:00:02

    Ignition

  3. T+00:00:00

    Liftoff

  4. T+00:00:55

    Supersonic

  5. T+00:01:07

    Max-Q

  6. T+00:02:24

    MECO

Show the full sequence (16 events)
  1. T+00:02:28

    Stage 2 Separation

  2. T+00:02:31

    SES

  3. T+00:03:07

    Fairing Separation

  4. T+00:06:21

    Battery Hotswap

  5. T+00:09:11

    SECO

  6. T+00:09:15

    Kick Stage Separation

  7. T+00:47:09

    Kick Stage Ignition

  8. T+00:49:16

    Kick Stage Cut-off

  9. T+00:50:06

    Payload Deployment Sequence Start

  10. T+01:45:36

    Payload Deployment Sequence End

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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