Electron (rocket)

Electron uses two stages with the same diameter (1.2 m, 3 ft 11 in) filled with RP-1/LOX propellant. The main body of the rocket is constructed using a lightweight carbon composite material.[16]

Both stages use the innovative Rutherford rocket engine, the first electric-pump-fed engine to power an orbital rocket.[11] The electric pumps are powered by Li-Polymer batteries. The second stage uses three batteries which are "hot swapped", two of the batteries are jettisoned once depleted to shed mass.[17] There are nine Rutherford engines on the first stage and one vacuum-optimized version on the second stage.[18][19][20] The first stage engines deliver 162 kN (36,000 lb_f) of force and the second stage delivers 22 kN (4,900 lb_f) of force. Almost all of the engines' parts are 3D printed to save time and money in the manufacturing process.[11][16]

Rocket Lab has also developed an optional third stage designed to circularize the orbits of its satellite payloads. The stage also puts satellites into a more accurate orbit in less time. This "kick" stage employs a new rocket engine, named Curie, that is capable of performing multiple burns, uses an unspecified "green" monopropellant, and is 3D printed. It was first used during Electron's second flight.[21] The "kick" stage can transport up to 150 kg (330 lb) of payload.[22]

Another third stage design, called 'Photon', is being developed to inject small payloads up to 30 kg (66 lb) into lunar orbit.[23]

Electron is designed to launch a 150 to 225 kg (330 to 495 lb) payload to a 500 km (310 mi) Sun-synchronous orbit, suitable for CubeSats and other small payloads.[6][26] In October 2018 Rocket Lab opened a factory large enough to produce more than 50 rockets per year according to the company.[27] Customers may choose to encapsulate their spacecraft in payload fairings provided by the company, which can be easily attached to the rocket shortly before launch.[28] The price for delivering up to 150 kg to a 500 km Sun-synchronous orbit is about $6 million per launch, which offers the only dedicated service at this price point.[5][10][29]

Moon Express contracted Rocket lab to launch lunar landers (multiple launches contracted, some planned for Moon Express operations after GLXP) on an Electron to compete for the Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP).[30] None of the contenders met the prize deadline, and the competition was closed without a winner. [31] For sometime after the closure of GLXP, the Moon Express Electron launches remained scheduled, but before February 2020, all the launches of Moon Express using Electron were canceled.[32]

Rocket Lab has also announced plans to study the potential recovery of the Electron booster for reuse, using a parachute and mid-air retrieval.[33] The booster of the tenth flight survived its guided re-entry and splashed down into the ocean.[34] A full recovery attempt is planned for 2020.[34]

The Mahia launch site under construction in 2016

The rocket is launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand.[16] The launch pad's remote and sparsely populated location is intended to enable a high frequency of launches.[16] The rocket and launch pad were both privately funded, the first time all parts of an orbital launch operation were entirely run by the private sector (other private spaceflight companies lease launch facilities from government agencies or only launch suborbital rockets).[16][26]

In October 2018, Rocket Lab selected Virginia Space's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, as its future secondary launch site in the United States, called Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2. The first launches from Wallops are planned in the third quarter of 2019.[35] Launch Complex 2 is expected to serve government customers.[36]

Additionally, the UK Space Agency is giving Highlands and Islands Enterprise the opportunity to develop an Electron launch pad on the A' Mhòine Peninsula in Sutherland, Scotland.[37] The location would be named Sutherland spaceport.[38]

The Electron has flown 11 times since May 2017. There have been 10 successes and 1 failure. The initial test flight, called "It's a Test", failed due to a glitch in communication equipment on the ground, but the follow-up missions, called "Still Testing", "It's Business Time" and "This One's For Pickering", delivered multiple small payloads to low Earth orbit.[39][40] In August 2019, a mission named "Look Ma, No Hands" successfully delivered four satellites to orbit,[41] and in October 2019, the mission named "As the Crow Flies" successfully launched from Mahia LC-1, deploying a small satellite and its kick stage into a 400 km parking orbit.[42]

• Small-lift launch vehicle
• Comparison of orbital launcher families
• Comparison of orbital launch systems
• Falcon 1
• Firefly Alpha
• Miura 5
• Vector-R

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Electron (rocket).

• Electron website at RocketLabUSA.com
• Electron Payload User's Guide at RocketLabUSA.com
• Computer simulation of an Electron launch on YouTube