Rocket Lab will launch a commercial radar-imaging satellite this morning (March 12), and you can watch the action live.
An Electron rocket topped with one of Japanese company Synspective’s Strix-3 satellites is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab’s New Zealand launch site on Tuesday during an hour-long window that opens at 10:13 a.m. EDT (1413 GMT; 3:13 a.m. local New Zealand time on March 13).
You can watch the event here at Space.com, courtesy of Rocket Lab, or directly via the company’s website. Coverage is expected to start 30 minutes before the launch window opens.
Related: Facts and information about Rocket Lab
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket with one preflown first-stage engine launches a satellite for the company Capella Space on Aug. 23, 2023. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab calls Tuesday’s mission “Owl Night Long” in a nod to Synspective’s Strix family of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellites, which shares its name with a genus of owls.
The Strix spacecraft “can image millimeter-level changes to the Earth’s surface from space, independent of weather conditions at any time day or night,” Rocket Lab wrote in an “Owl Night Long” mission description, which you can find here.
“Owl Night Long” will be Rocket Lab’s fourth launch for Synspective. The other three missions for the Earth-imaging company launched in December 2020, February 2022 and September 2022.
Strix-3 is headed for a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) 348.6 miles (561 kilometers) above Earth, according to Rocket Lab.
Satellites in SSOs see the same patch of ground at the same solar time every day, meaning that lighting conditions are consistent and changes on Earth’s surface can be detected more easily. For this reason, these orbits are popular destinations for weather and reconnaissance satellites.
If all goes according to plan, the Electron will deploy Strix-3 into its intended orbit about 54 minutes after launch.
There apparently won’t be any action in the downward direction on Tuesday. Rocket Lab is working to make Electron’s first stage reusable and has recovered boosters on a number of previous missions. But the company’s “Owl Night Long” mission description doesn’t mention anything about recovery activities.
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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, “Out There,” was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.
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