SPACE reports, “Rocket Lab plans to launch an Earth-observing radar satellite this morning (Dec. 20). An Electron rocket is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab’s New Zealand site today, during a 75-minute window that opens at 9:00 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT; 3:00 a.m. on Dec. 21 local New Zealand time).”
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Update from SPACE at 9:45 a.m. ET: “Today’s launch attempt was scrubbed with around 17 minutes left in the countdown. Rocket Lab has not yet set a new launch date.”
Space News reports that Rocket Lab has relocated a pair of Electron launches of NASA storm-monitoring cubesats from LC-2 in Wallops Island, Virginia, to LC-1 New Zealand. Rocket Lab’s launches will each carry two TROPICS cubsats. The first launch – dubbed “Rocket Like a Hurricane” by the company – is scheduled for no earlier than April 30. The second – dubbed “Coming to a Storm Near You” – is scheduled for May 15. Each launch will carry two TROPICS cubesats. The article adds that the company “did not disclose why the launches could not take place from LC-2 as originally planned other than that the shift to New Zealand would ensure they would launch in the second quarter. However, the change does avoid a potential conflict with a Northrop Grumman Antares launch of a Cygnus cargo mission to the International Space Station.”
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