Rocket Lab’s pioneering suborbital launch final month carried out hypersonic checks for the U.S. navy, the corporate has revealed.
The mission in query lifted off on Nov. 24 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Virginia’s Wallops Island. It employed HASTE, the suborbital variant of Rocket Lab’s workhorse Electron launcher.
Lower than 22 hours later, an Electron lofted 5 “Web of Issues” satellites to orbit for the French firm Kinéis, notching an unprecedented spaceflight doubleheader for Rocket Lab.
“Mission success. 2 launches in lower than 24 hours from 2 pads in 2 completely different hemispheres,” Rocket Lab said via X shortly after the Electron liftoff.
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For some time, Rocket Lab remained mum concerning the Nov. 24 mission, which was simply the second ever for the HASTE automobile. However the California-based firm broke its silence on Monday (Dec. 9), asserting that the suborbital mission efficiently examined “hypersonic expertise for the Division of Protection.”
“This mission supplied hypersonic check launch capabilities underneath the Multi-Service Superior Functionality Hypersonics Check Mattress (MACH-TB) undertaking, which goals to extend hypersonic flight testing for america in assist of expertise maturation,” Rocket Lab officers stated in a statement on Monday.
“Rocket Lab’s check platform showcased a brand new suite of cutting-edge applied sciences optimized for hypersonic expertise checks with vastly elevated payloads,” the corporate added. “Rocket Lab additionally designed, manufactured, assembled and built-in the experimental hypersonic instrumentation which was launched on this mission, however on a extremely accelerated timeline.”
Rocket Lab hit one other milestone on its Nov. 25 orbital mission, which it referred to as “Ice AIS Child:” The launch pushed the overall variety of satellites deployed by the 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron over 200, to 203.
Electron has now flown a complete of 54 instances, together with 13 instances to this point this 12 months. HASTE’s lone mission earlier than the Nov. 24 flight, which Rocket Lab referred to as “HASTE A La Vista,” launched in June 2023, additionally from the MARS pad.
