It’s designed to help streamline rocket operations from Wallops and other launch ranges around the country.ĭavid Pierce, director of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, said the rocket-agnostic autonomous flight termination system will help enable “responsible launch capability for the United States.” NASA developed the NAFTU system in partnership with the U.S. It’s a new AFTS system being brought online for the industry, and it’s a new rocket to Virginia and to the Wallops Flight Facility.” Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher horizontal at Wallops Island, Virginia. “It’s the standing up a new capability for the nation. “This flight just doesn’t just symbolize another launch pad for Rocket Lab,” Beck said. It was a super-quick build, but … there have been lots of challenges along the way with AFTS (Autonomous Flight Termination System) and COVID, and all the rest of it, but I’m very pleased to say that today we’re all done, which is great. We built the launch site around about three years ago. “I have to say it feels great to be at this point,” Beck said Dec. The NASA Autonomous Flight Termination Unit, or NAFTU, can be adopted by multiple launch service providers.īut software problems with the NAFTU system delayed the debut of Rocket Lab in Virginia more than two years. Other companies, like SpaceX, have developed proprietary autonomous flight termination systems for use on their own rockets. The Rocket Lab mission from Virginia will be the first space launch to use a NASA-developed customizable flight safety system designed to provide autonomous flight termination capability to a range of different commercial launch vehicles. ![]() The launch was delayed from Friday to wait for final certification of the rocket’s autonomous flight termination system software. ![]() Rocket Lab says the Electron launcher and its three commercial satellite payloads are ready for blastoff. Time to fly, this time from the northern hemisphere.” “Huge thanks to NASA Wallops and the FAA. “The final licensing paperwork for launch is complete and we are 100% go for launch tomorrow,” tweeted Peter Beck, Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO, on Saturday evening. The company’s Electron rocket has flown 32 times since 2017 from a privately-owned spaceport on the North Island of New Zealand, delivering 152 satellites to orbit on 29 successful missions. Rocket Lab has its corporate headquarters in Southern California, and operates two rocket factories in California and in New Zealand. company building a satellite constellation to detect and locate the source of terrestrial radio signals. Rocket Lab and NASA range teams will monitor high-altitude winds during Sunday’s countdown to ensure conditions in the upper atmosphere will permit the Electron rocket to safely climb into space with three small satellites for HawkEye 360, a U.S. Forecasters at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility predict a 90% chance of favorable weather for launch Sunday, with only a slight concern for thick clouds. EST (2300 GMT), for liftoff of Rocket Lab’s Electron booster from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia. There is a two-hour launch window Sunday, opening at 6 p.m. Rocket Lab said Saturday that the company received final approval from NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration to launch their first mission from the United States on Sunday, clearing final regulatory and technical hurdles with a new autonomous range safety destruct unit that delayed the launch more than two years. ![]() Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher on the pad at Wallops Island, Virginia.
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