Startup Rocket Lab puts six small satellites into orbit



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Startup Rocket Lab puts six small satellites into orbitCNN image
Another Rocket Lab mission, named "It's a Business Time," successfully launched the New Zealand Starterboard over the weekend.

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(CNN) – The rest of the US missile launch has set up a bar on the red market for companies that create small satellites.

Rocket Lab rocket launched six small satellites – or small satellites – on Sundays with low Earth orbit from New Zealand. That is The company's other missile rocket, which is well below 60 meters, did so.

Rocket Labs competitors have not yet launched an orbital launch, which means that there is an ever-increasing set of rocket launchers on the front that want to run small copies for businesses and researchers.

Other prominent companies in the dedicated Smallsat launch industry include Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit and veteran Jim Cantrelle.

"[My team] built a nice machine, "said Peter Beck, director of Rocket Lab.

Why a little?

As mobile phones shrunk, similar technological advancements have made the satellites smaller and more capable.

But the missiles did not diminish and the small forces were forced to drive in with much larger cargo capabilities on powerful rockets such as SpaceX Falcon 9 or the Russian Soyuz rocket.

Smallsat companies are often forced to wait for longer periods for free space on the rocket.

Rocket Lab and a host of other startup companies are striving to change this if they fly smaller, less powerful rockets. Companies want to generate rockets massively and offer much more frequent trips to space.

Sunday's Rocket Lab mission included a payload for customers, such as Spire Global, which is collecting information about ships and planes around the world, and Fleet Space Technologies, which wants to connect remote devices to the Internet.

Beck, the head of the rocket laboratory, said CNN Business that he had put off Australian Fleet Technologies for more than a year and was waiting to gain its orbital benefit. The fleet reached Rocket Lab about a month ago, and satellite satellite could enter Elektron until Sunday.

"That's true, what's up, so we make the space accessible," Beck said.

The payment for a dedicated launch vehicle, for example Rocket Lab's Electron, may be more expensive for small-area operators than for a major missile.

But Beck said that many in the industry are willing to pay for the convenience of the Electron rocket. When the company is full of speed, it says that electrons will launch the satellites into space within twelve weeks.

The third flight of Rocket Lab is scheduled for next month, and the fourth is scheduled for January 2019. The company hopes to finish 16 starts next year.

Design of the competition

Rocket Labs should not be too far behind.

Virgin Orbit, a company under Branson's Virgin Group, wants to start small copies early next year. His system launches a rocket under the wing of the Boeing 747 in the air.

The vector, the idea of ​​former SpaceX's contractor Cantrell, also plans an initial orbital flight in the next few months.

There are dozens of other starts on the wings. Experts suspect that there will eventually be a transformation in the market and there is no guarantee that Rocket Lab will survive.

"In the first place it does not necessarily mean winning," said CNN Business Steve Isakowtiz, executive director of the non-profit research group The Aerospace Corporation in a recent interview. "Can they come to the market? Can they survive with production? And do they have their own customer base?"

Beck, the head of the rocket laboratory, said he thinks that in the next 12 to 18 months, the market will focus on "brutal consolidation" that will leave only a few companies. And he is sure that Rocket Lab will be one of them, he said.

The company, Beck said, is close to turning profit, has raised $ 148 million in venture capital and build factories that can build one rocket per week.

"Anyone who owns a rocket company and tells you that it's a smooth sailing from here, lives in the other world," Beck said. "But we were successful and more will come. Now it's just about scaling and continuing to lead."

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