2023年8月17日,

日本SAR公司引起的发射火箭实验室原始轨道破产后火箭实验室,目前准备推出五车二空间SAR卫星上的一个电子,签署了一份合同,推出SAR卫星9月日本引起的。信贷:火箭实验室华盛顿——一家日本公司开发一个星座的合成孔径雷达(SAR)成像卫星是最新转向火箭实验室在竞争对手推出的破产公司维珍轨道。火箭实验室8月17日宣布,与研究所签订了合同Q-shu先锋的空间(iqp)专用电子火箭发射的QPS-SAR-5卫星。发射,在名为“月亮上帝唤醒”的使命,从发射定于9月1在新西兰。维珍的轨道上的卫星最初推出的LauncherOne火箭合同于2022年5月公布。当时合同的公告,QPS-SAR-5原定在2023年初发射,但尚未推出当处女轨道4月申请破产,后来停止操作。两家公司直接提到处女轨道的破产公告的新合同,但提到它。“这是完全的任务电子设计和交付在一次又一次:一个客户迫切寻求专门推出一个独特的轨道上快速的时间表,”彼得·贝克火箭实验室的首席执行官在声明中说。Shunsuke馆,引起的首席执行官指出“延迟由于地位变化自从我们去年5月宣布QPS-SAR-5合同”,但没有直接提到处女轨道的情况。“我们高度赞赏火箭实验室和我们的团队努力安排这个新的启动合同对我们来说是很有意义的快速部署卫星送入轨道。” In addition to the delay launching QPS-SAR-5, iQPS lost two other satellites, QPS-SAR-3 and -4, when a Japanese Epsilon rocket failed to reach orbit during an October 2022 launch . The QPS-SAR-6 satellite did make it to orbit as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-8 rideshare mission in June. The company has long-term plans for a 36-satellite constellation capable of producing SAR imagery at resolutions sharper than 50 centimeters. The decision by iQPS to go with Rocket Lab comes after NorthStar Earth and Space, a Canadian company developing a constellation to collect space situational awareness data, announced in June it would launch its first set of four satellites on an Electron after previously signing a launch contract with Virgin Orbit. Rocket Lab has been the beneficiary of Virgin Orbit’s bankruptcy because of the lack of options for dedicated smallsat launches as other companies face technical or financial struggles. “We’ve seen defections from all of the aspirational launch providers,” Beck said in an interview in July. “The industry is shaking out.” The iQPS contract is the ninth Electron launch the company has won this month. Rocket Lab announced Aug. 8 that it won a contract for five Electron launches of BlackSky’s Gen-3 imaging satellites starting in 2024. A week later, NASA awarded Rocket Lab a task order under the agency’s Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract for two Electron launches of its PREFIRE Earth science cubesats in May 2024. Rocket Lab also announced a contract Aug. 8 for the suborbital version of Electron, called HASTE, for an undisclosed customer. Rocket Lab has not disclosed the value of any of those contracts but said in its Aug. 8 earnings call it had a target launch cost of $7.5 million for the Electron. The company also reiterated its forecast of 15 Electron launches this year, of which it has completed seven. Rocket Lab’s next launch, of a Capella Space SAR satellite, was postponed from late July and early August because of unusual data from an engine sensor. The launch is now scheduled for Aug. 23 in a four-hour window that opens at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. Related