Lifting-off at 0818 GMT, 6 December 2019, the tenth Electron rocket from Rocket Lab has carried seven satellites in to orbit. The mission took place from the Rocket Lab facility in the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, on its way to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This is the ninth consecutive success for the Electron vehicle.
The primary payload for the mission is the ALE 2, satellite built by Astro Live Experiences, Japan. Alongside this satellite were six “PocketQube” nanosatellites, designed by Alba Orbital, United Kingdom. Of these nanosatellites, four of them are on behalf of other companies; ATL Ltd. (Hungary), Fossa Systems (Spain), BME University (Hungary) and My Radar (Germany). The other two NOOR 1A and 1B (UNICORN 2B and 2C) are built by Alba Orbital for their own purposes.
Corporate logo of Rocket Lab. Courtesy of Rocket Lab
This was the last scheduled launch for Rocket Lab this year. The company is expecting a busy 2020 from their launch site in New Zealand. They also expect to inaugurate their new launch facility in the United States of America.
