Rocket Lab and Nasa have integrated the CubeSat payloads for the space agency’s Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) mission at its facility in Huntington Beach, California, US.
As part of the integration, final spacecraft checks and preparations were carried out before the CubeSats were loaded into dispensers that protect the payloads during launch. They are then deployed from the Electron rocket after reaching the low Earth orbit.
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The integrated payloads will be transported to New Zealand for installation onto the Electron rocket over the next few weeks.
They are scheduled to be launched from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 private orbital launch facility by the first half of this year on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand.
The upcoming VCLS mission represents the smallest class of dedicated launch services used by Nasa and its first Venture Class mission.
Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said: “The VCLS contract by Nasa’s Launch Services Programme is very forward-thinking and a direct response to the small satellite industry’s changing needs for rapid and repeatable access to orbit.”
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By GlobalDataThe VCLS mission comprises ten CubeSats. They were developed as part of a Nasa programme called CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) and are part of the 19th Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa-19).
The CubeSats are expected to conduct various research missions, which include measuring radiation in the Van Allen belts to understand their impact on spacecraft, as well as monitoring space weather.
Beck further said: “Venture Class launches are about freeing small satellite payloads from the barriers they currently face in trying to access space on larger launch platforms as secondary payloads.”
Rocket Lab’s Electron small launch vehicle is designed to offer dedicated flights tailored to small satellites.
