Quote:

'It's Business Time': Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck counting down to first commercial launch from Mahia later in June Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck says he is excited about the company's upcoming commercial rocket launch as it looks to complement its Mahia launch facility with others around the world. Speaking ahead of the US-based company's expected rocket launch later this month, Beck said preparations were coming along well. "The vehicle's out on the pad. So we're just going through all the normal pre-flight checks and preparing for the launch window." The company delayed the original "It's Business Time" rocket launch because of a technical issue last month. "We found the route cause of that and rectified the process," Beck said. A new 14-day launch window for the upcoming mission would start from June 23, with daily launch opportunities between 12.30pm and 4.30pm. The launch is billed as the company's first "fully commercial launch'' after two test flights but Beck said he was not feeling any nerves ahead of the launch. "Every flight you are heavily invested in. From a commercial stand-point, we had commercial payloads on the last one. You reach a level of pressure that bottoms out in that fact that its always the same stakes, whether it's a test or a commercial flight and we do our best to prepare the vehicle." The company's launch manifest is now fully booked for 2018, and it already has some bookings years ahead. "Right now we're the only ride in town, the only dedicated small-launch vehicle that's operational and only one of two private companies actually offering orbital launch services. What we're seeing here is just the business model playing out as anticipated." He was particularly pleased the Electron rocket had proven to be a very good vehicle. "It's very pleasing to be able to sign those customers. One of things that we are seeing, that's more exciting, is that satellite builders are actually building now specifically for Electron. So they are designing spacecraft specifically so it can go any fly in the Electron launch vehicle." The company was recruiting four to five new employees every week and was expanding "everywhere" as it entered a "pretty steep growth phase". "We're expanding our factory in New Zealand, our factory in the US, and launch pads. We're expanding at rapid rate. This year [we're] aiming to launch one a month, next year it's every two weeks and we're planning to double down on that." The company aimed to build "various" launch pads at other sites around the world but the Mahia facility - the first of its kind in the world - continued to service the company's needs very well. The payload for the upcoming launch would include (amongst others) IRVINE01, an educational payload from the Irvine CubeSat STEM Program (ICSP), and NABEO, a drag sail technology demonstrator designed and built by High Performance Space Structure Systems GmBH. The NABEO drag sail is a system created to passively de-orbit inactive small satellites. The small sail is an ultra-thin membrane that can be coiled up tightly within a spacecraft and then deployed once the satellite reaches the end of its orbital lifespan. The reflective panels unfold to 2.5sq m to increase the spacecraft's surface area, causing it to experience greater drag and pull the satellite back into the Earth's atmosphere, enabling much faster de-orbiting and reducing the amount of space junk in low earth orbit. The Irvine CubeSat STEM Program is a joint educational endeavour to teach, train and inspire the next generation of STEM professionals. It is comprised of students from six American high schools (Beckman, Irvine, Northwood, Porto la, University, and Woodbridge) in the city of Irvine, California, and powered by private sector donation through Irvine Public Schools Foundation.

Unfortunately, I can't post the link to the original article but it was from the New Zealand Herald.

I just heard about this company yesterday while watching the news. They're aiming at launching a rocket each week, which would be double the total rocket launches in the USA last year.

cool, if they do well enough we can claim it as our own, like all their musso's and actors hehe ;) ;)

DonDeeHippy wrote on Jun 18^th, 2018 at 11:45am:

cool, if they do well enough we can claim it as our own, like all their musso's and actors hehe ;) ;)

Political actors?

New Zealand has surreptitiously taken over Australia with Trojan horse politicians.

Next we will be shocked to find out Agnes, Cods and Grappler are actually New Zealand actors.

Whist Australia makes progress renovating asbestos ridden old dumps and cooking the next souffle on TV it's little wonder that NZ is powering way ahead of us on space technology !!

Lets face it, Aussies can't even make pulverized sheep sh.t.

DonDeeHippy wrote on Jun 18^th, 2018 at 11:45am:

cool, if they do well enough we can claim it as our own, like all their musso's and actors hehe ;) ;)

Australia can never claim the All Blacks.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Hb632BCCw

New Zealand:

Part of the Oceania Region which also consists of the Pacific Islands...
(not Melanesia, which is a part of the region of Sahul, along with Australia and half of Indonesia)
...Central America and the Caribbean Islands (Windies, Cuba, Bahamas) - Hawaii is also part of this Region and thus wishes 'Independence' from the 'North Americans'.

New Zealand is culturally much like the USA (small amount of rich, a lot of poor) but definitely 'Southern Hemisphere' in its ways.

Of the Sahulian States: New South Wales is as close to New Zealand as Australia can get - culturally, as NSW is very Oceanian (QLD is Namerican, VIC is Samerican, etc)
...so in essence, New Zealand (Oceania) can claim NSW as its own.  :D

New Zealand is progressively more 'imaginative' and 'innovative' than Australia as it is not bogged down by OH&S/WH&S restrictions based upon 'financial' rewards via lawsuits. It has a 'medical assistance' outcome, rather than big payouts.  ;) It also has a better Medical system than Australia.

New Zealand is equal 1st in the World for Tourism (with West Coast Canada) - which is outstanding as it doesn't rely heavily on 'historical' sites to attract Tourists.

Queenstown is the REAL 'cultural' Capital of New Zealand.
With Wellington the much faded 'political' capital and Rotorua as the 'Maori' capital (to compensate for the Boers having a capital in South Africa  :P).

Travel 10kms in New Zealand and you see 100 things!
Travel 100kms in Australia and you just see 10 things - at thrice the price!  ::)

Jasin wrote on Jun 22^nd, 2018 at 4:47pm:

Travel 100kms in Australia and you just see 10 things - at thrice the price!

another of those stupid buggers who drive with their eyes closed.

lee wrote on Jun 22^nd, 2018 at 5:17pm:

Jasin wrote on Jun 22nd, 2018 at 4:47pm: Travel 100kms in Australia and you just see 10 things - at thrice the price!  another of those stupid buggers who drive with their eyes closed.

almost as stupid as those drivers that do a non stop journey from melbourne to sydney just so they can bag EV's !

does Australia have a space program ?

DonDeeHippy wrote on Jun 24^th, 2018 at 5:53am:

does Australia have a space program ?

Does IITL levitating in a copper framed pyramid count?

Setanta wrote on Jun 24^th, 2018 at 8:47pm:

DonDeeHippy wrote on Jun 24th, 2018 at 5:53am: does Australia have a space program ? Does IITL levitating in a copper framed pyramid count?

yeah close enough.  ;)

If NZ is so great, why are they all scrambliing to come here?

ohhh u only read the title Hammer ???? :D :D