![]() The TROPICS launches need to be completed within a 60-day period, hence the fast turnaround. The second TROPICS mission, named “Coming To A Storm Near You,” is scheduled to fly from Mahia in late May. This mission is the first of two TROPICS launches this month from Rocket Lab and the fourth launch this year for Electron. The live launch webcast will begin approx. Launch readiness review is complete and we are GO for tomorrow's #RocketLikeAHurricane launch for the TROPICS constellation! The two satellites then deployed at T+33 minutes. The two TROPICS satellites and the Curie kick stage deployed at around nine minutes and 31 seconds after liftoff, with the kick stage igniting its engine just after T+30 minutes. Electron’s first stage was not recovered following stage separation. First-stage engine cutoff and separation occurred at around two minutes and 33 seconds after liftoff. Therefore, Electron followed a trajectory slightly inclined to the northeast of the Mahia Peninsula. The flight lofted the two TROPICS cubesats to a 550 km circular low Earth orbit inclined 32 degrees to the Equator. However, inclement weather delayed the launch to the following week. Liftoff from LC-1B was on schedule at 13:00 NZST (1:00 UTC) on May 8.Įlectron and TROPICS were originally set to launch during the week prior to the May 8th launch attempt. ![]() NASA’s Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) constellation, having switched launch vehicles after losing two satellites aboard an Astra Rocket 3.3 last year, has launched - this time aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket on a mission titled “Rocket Like A Hurricane” from Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B) in Mahia, New Zealand. ![]()
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