Rocket Lab, one of the space industry’s unicorn startups, successfully launched its Electron rocket to deliver a payload of satellites to orbit in the Don’t Stop Me Now mission. Rocket Lab is known for its extensive use of additive manufacturing in the production of Rutherford engines for electronic rocket propulsion systems. The rocket is scheduled to launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand on June 13.
To commemorate the recently passed Rocket Lab board member (formerly a fan of the Queen), “Don’t Stop Me” was a ride-sharing mission that launched several small satellites, including ANDESITE (Extended Satellite’s Ad-Hoc Network) Demo) A satellite based on “base inquiry and other team efforts” made by students and professors of electrical and mechanical engineering at Boston University.
The satellite is part of NASA’s Cube Satellite Launch Program (CSLI) and will conduct groundbreaking scientific research on the Earth’s magnetic field. After entering space, the ANDESITE satellite will use an onboard sensor to start the measurement of the magnetosphere, and then release eight pico satellites, which carry small magnetometer sensors to track the current flowing into and out of the atmosphere. This phenomenon is also known as space weather. These changes in electrical activity through space may have a significant impact on our lives on Earth, leading to malfunctions in radio communications and electrical systems. The ANDESITE satellite is the successor of the first launch of ELaNa (educational launch of nanosatellites) for the launch of ELaNa-19 by NASA.
The mission also carried three payloads designed, manufactured, and operated by NRO. The mission was based on the agency’s “Rapid Procurement of Small Rockets” (RASR) contract vehicles. RASR enables NRO to explore new launch opportunities, thereby providing a simplified business method for sending small satellites into space and providing people working in the small satellite community with timely and cost-effective space access. The mission was launched from Rocket Lab launch site 1 at NZT on January 31, 2020, following Rocket Lab’s first special mission for NRO-Birds of a Feather.
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra Space Company cooperated with the Australian government to add ANDESITE and NRO payloads to the mission through the M2 Pathfinder satellite. M2 Pathfinder will test communication architecture and other technologies that will help inform Australia’s future space capabilities. The satellite will demonstrate the ability of software-based airborne radios to orbit and reconfigure.