Rocket Lab just launched another small satellite into orbit.
A two-stage Electron amplifier today (December 15) at 5:09 am EST (1009 GMT) lifted off from Rocket Lab’s New Zealand launch site, with the first member of the “Strix” family of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites developed by Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective .
SAR-equipped spacecraft can view the Earth’s surface at any time of the day or night and in all weather conditions; clouds and darkness do not deter radio waves. Synspective plans to build a constellation of 30 Strix spacecraft, which will “collect daily data from metropolitan centers in Asia that can be used for urban development planning, construction and infrastructure monitoring, and disaster relief,” said Rocket Lab. wrote in a mission statement.
In pictures: Rocket Lab and its Electron booster
Strix is also a diverse and widespread genus of owls, including such species as the barred owl and the spotted owl. So Rocket Lab, which traditionally gives its missions playful names, called today’s launch “The Owl’s Night Begins.”
The California-based Rocket Lab eventually plans to repurpose the first stages of the 18-foot Electron to increase launch frequency and reduce costs. During the previous Electron mission, which began last month, Rocket Lab successfully led down a first stage for a controlled, parachute-aided splashdown in the Pacific and restored the booster for inspection. No attempt has been made to recover today, company representatives said.
“The Owl’s Night Begins” was Rocket Lab’s seventh launch in 2020 and the 17th mission for Electron overall. The launch was designed to put the Strix satellite into solar-synchronous orbit around the Earth at an altitude of about 310 miles (500 kilometers), according to the mission press kit, which you can find here. (Satellites in solar synchronous orbits zoom across the poles of the Earth, gaining a view of the planet’s surface with consistent solar illumination.)
Today’s Electron first used a custom, expanded fairing, or nose cone, to house Synspective’s “wide-body satellite,” Rocket Lab representatives wrote in the press kit.
The launch window for “The Owl’s Night Begins” opened on December 12th. Unfavorable weather forecasts have moved the target date to Monday (December 14) and Synspective has subsequently requested a new postponement to avoid possible complications caused by that day’s total solar eclipse.
Mike Wall is the author of “Outside(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the quest for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.