Грузомакет -- Electron -- Mahia -- 24.05.2017, 00:30 UTC

[tnt22]

Rocket Lab‏Подлинная учетная запись @RocketLabUSA 8 мин. назад

Launch postponed for the day due to risk of triboelectrification. Will try again tomorrow! #ItsaTest

[Алексей]

Что-то расположение космодрома уже не кажется таким удачным...

[Чебурашка]

tnt22 пишет:
due to risk of triboelectrification

Бгг... знакомое слово.
Эта та неведомая хня, что вынудила перенести на сутки пуск самой большой модели ракеты в мире - Ареса I-X ?

[KBOB]

Чебурашка пишет:

tnt22 пишет:
due to risk of triboelectrification

Бгг... знакомое слово.
Эта та неведомая хня, что вынудила перенести на сутки пуск самой большой модели ракеты в мире - Ареса I-X ?

Корпус у ракеты пластиковый - трибоэлектризация очень опасна.

[tnt22]

Rocket Lab‏Подлинная учетная запись @RocketLabUSA 3 ч. назад

Launch attempt could be any time between 1pm - 5pm, May 24 - June 2 (NZST). Weather and operational factors can impact exact time. #ItsaTest

Video

1pm - 5pm NZST --> 01:00 - 05:00 UTC (04:00 - 08:00 ДМВ)

[tnt22]

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/05/23/rocket-lab-delays-debut-of-new-launcher-to-dodge-bad-weather/

Rocket Lab delays debut of new launcher to dodge bad weather
May 23, 2017 Stephen Clark

Спойлер

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket horizontal at Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab

[свернуть]

Rocket Lab, a company eyeing a market to launch small satellites, said Monday that bad weather at its privately-operated launch base on New Zealand's North Island kept a commercial Electron booster from lifting off on its maiden test flight for the second day in a row.

Спойлер

The liftoff is now scheduled for no earlier than Tuesday afternoon, U.S. time, or Wednesday morning in New Zealand. Rocket Lab has not disclosed a target launch time.

High winds kept ground crews from rollout the Electron rocket to the launch pad in time for a launch attempt Sunday, but the conditions improved enough to transfer to the booster to the launch stand for another try Monday, according to Rocket Lab.

But officials opted to scrub Monday's attempt due to high clouds over the launch facility, which could have triggered the build-up of static electricity on the rocket as it climbed through the atmosphere.

"We've been able to roll the rocket out to the launch pad, but now we're waiting for the high altitude cloud to clear," said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab's CEO. "Safety is Rocket Lab's number one priority and we are following guidelines set by the FAA and NASA around weather and launch safety."

When it takes off, the 55-foot-tall (17-meter) Electron rocket will head south from Rocket Lab's launch facility, dubbed Launch Complex 1, at Onenui Station on Mahia Peninsula, a spit of land on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

Rocket Lab officials said they are looking for optimal weather conditions for the launch, which aims to put an inert payload into polar orbit between 186 miles (300 kilometers) and 310 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth.

"Current weather conditions put us at risk of what's called triboelectrification," Beck said in a statement released Monday. "This is the build-up of static charge through friction.

"Ice and other particles in high cloud strike the rocket transferring electrons (the atomic kind) and build up charge on the surface of the vehicle," Beck said. "This can lead to large voltage potential and encourage electric discharges or lightning which may affect the avionics on-board."

Established in 2006, Rocket Lab test-launched more than 80 suborbital sounding rockets before focusing on the privately-developed Electron launcher, a vehicle sized to loft small satellites and clusters of CubeSats into low Earth orbit.

Headquartered in Huntington Beach, California, Rocket Lab's main engineering, design and mission control center is in Auckland, New Zealand.  Rocket Lab started construction of Launch Complex 1 in late 2015, before moving the first liquid-fueled Electron rocket to the facility earlier this year.

Electron launches are licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration because Rocket Lab is technically a U.S. company, with intentions to base future rocket production and launch operations in the United States.

...

Rocket Lab says future Electron missions could take off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Pacific Spaceport Complex at Kodiak Island, Alaska.

The company plans three test Electron test launches in the coming months before beginning commercial service.

...

[свернуть]

[Salo]

 Rocket Lab‏Подлинная учетная запись @RocketLabUSA  7 мин7 минут назад
Our range team is making preparations ahead of a launch attempt from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia NZ. #ItsaTest
https://twitter.com/i/videos/867106745390292992

[tnt22]

Jeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust 11 мин. назад
Spoke with Rocket Lab's Peter Beck earlier today. Optimistic weather will be good for today's launch; no technical issues with the vehicle.

[tnt22]

Rocket Lab‏Подлинная учетная запись @RocketLabUSA 2 мин. назад

Launch preparations progressing well. #ItsaTest

[tnt22]

Rocket Lab‏Подлинная учетная запись @RocketLabUSA 17 сек. назад

Launch scrubbed for the day due to triboelectrification. Weather set to worsen throughout the day. Will attempt again tomorrow! #ItsaTest

[Salo]

 Rocket Lab‏Подлинная учетная запись @RocketLabUSA  1 ч.1 час назад
Our friends @DigitalGlobe took an image of Launch Complex 1 using WorldView-2 as it passed by! Taken from 770km (478 miles) #ItsaTest
 

[Salo]

 Rocket Lab‏Подлинная учетная запись @RocketLabUSA  4 ч.4 часа назад  
Launch preparations progressing well. #ItsaTest
https://twitter.com/i/videos/867183126488809476

 
   Rocket Lab‏Подлинная учетная запись @RocketLabUSA  6 ч.6 часов назад  
Rocket Lab's goal is to make space accessible using our Electron launch vehicle #ItsaTest
https://twitter.com/i/videos/867154521050329088

[Pirat5]

что это за руки у ракеты? крылья? 

[Sergey Кoskin]

Pirat5 пишет:
что это за руки у ракеты? крылья?  

Сами же сказали - руки. Руки держат, а крылья - создают аэродинамическую сулу...

[PIN]

Не у ракеты, смотрите здесь https://www.rocketlabusa.com/latest/press-kit/

[tnt22]

http://spacenews.com/rocket-lab-waits-out-weather-delays/

Rocket Lab waits out weather delays
by Jeff Foust — May 24, 2017

Спойлер

An image from DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite showing the Electron rocket on the pad on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula May 23. Credit: satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe

[свернуть]

WASHINGTON — As weather continues to delay the first launch of its Electron rocket, Rocket Lab's chief executive said the company remains patient until conditions are right to attempt a flight.

Rocket Lab postponed its third attempt to launch the Electron rocket from its launch site on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula May 23, citing concerns about "triboelectrification," or electrical discharges as the rocket passed through high-altitude clouds. Similar concerns postponed a launch attempt the day before, and high winds delayed the initial launch attempt May 21.

Спойлер

"Similar to yesterday, high altitude cloud created a risk of triboelectrification. Our team were able to fuel the vehicle and prepare it for flight, but worsening weather conditions meant we were forced to delay," Rocket Lab Chief Executive Peter Beck said in a statement after the latest postponement. "The team did a great job today, and our operations are running smoothly."

In a telephone interview earlier May 23, Beck was optimistic that weather would improve for the launch attempt. "It's expected to clear at the beginning of our window, so we're looking good," he said. In the later statement, he said a weather front moved quicker than expected.

Beck said the team has had no technical issues during launch preparations. "We're working no issues with the vehicle. From that perspective we're really good," he said in the interview.

He said that the company wouldn't try to press its luck launching in marginal weather conditions despite the repeated delays. "The most important thing is that we get the data and learn from the vehicle. After four years of hard work, it doesn't make sense to launch in such conditions," he said. "We'll just wait until another day."

The company has a four-hour launch window each day through June 1. That's driven by the demands of the support services for the launch, including U.S. government agencies providing regulatory oversight. "If we get through this window, we'll hope to open a new one relatively soon," he said.

The company has faced some criticism for lack of coverage of the launch. There are no nearby public viewing areas, and the company elected not to provide a live webcast. "We're groaning at the seams for bandwidth with our own telemetry and equipment," he said.

"As much as I'd like to livestream this one, I just wanted the team, without that additional pressure, get on with their jobs," he said, acknowledging that the lack of a webcast was the "number one asked question" about the flight. Beck said that future Electron launches would be webcast.

This test launch does not carry a satellite payload but instead instruments to measure the launch environment. "Our payload is basically a giant laboratory," he said. He said two future test flights might be able to carry commercial payloads before regular commercial launches begin, citing demand from customers.

The vehicle for the second Electron launch is completed and sitting in the company's factory in New Zealand. It would launch after a review of the data collected in the first launch, regardless of its outcome. "I would expect it would be at least a month or two before we would attempt another one, to give us enough time to learn everything we need to learn," Beck said.

Rocket Lab hopes to begin commercial launches later this year, which Beck said would take place only after the company had concluded it had learned everything it needed from those test flights and no longer needed to "experiment" on the rocket. At least one company, Moon Express, is counting on Rocket Lab to hold to that schedule: its lunar lander needs to launch on an Electron by the end of this year in order to qualify for the $20 million Google Lunar X Prize.

[свернуть]

[Sergey Кoskin]

"We're groaning at the seams for bandwidth with our own telemetry and equipment" А действительно, что там с телеметрией, как они собираются осуществлять прием телеметрической информации? Или сбрасуемый телеметрический контейнер?

[tnt22]

Rocket Lab‏Подлинная учетная запись @RocketLabUSA 4 мин. назад

Yesterday, we had to hold at T-12 minutes due to the weather closing in. Trying again today! #ItsaTest

[PIN]

Sergey Кoskin пишет:
как они собираются осуществлять прием телеметрической информации

Через радиоканал. Что, есть альтернативы?

[Sergey Кoskin]

PIN пишет:

Sergey Кoskin пишет:
как они собираются осуществлять прием телеметрической информации

Через радиоканал. Что, есть альтернативы?

На всей трассе? Или робота над ошибками не проделана? Или же как в первый раз - не жахнула, значит все ок? 
Альтернатива есть всегда...

Кому интересно комерческая лицензия фаа на низкоорбитальный запуск: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/licenses_permits/media/LLS%2017-095%20-%20Rocket%20Lab%20USA%20-%20License%20and%20Orders%202017-05-15.pdf