Watch Rocket Lab launch radar Earth-observation satellite early Sept. 19

Last edited Tue Sep 19, 2023, 03:06 AM - Edit history (1)

News Spaceflight

By Mike Wall published about 13 hours ago
Liftoff is scheduled for 3:30 a.m. ET.

Rocket Lab will launch a radar Earth-observation satellite for the California company Capella Space early Tuesday (Sept. 19), and you can watch the action live.

An Electron rocket carrying one of Capella's "Acadia" synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Tuesday at 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT; 6:30 p.m. local New Zealand time).

You can watch it live here at Space.com when the time comes, courtesy of Rocket Lab, or directly via the company.

If all goes according to plan on Tuesday, the Electron will deploy the Acadia satellite into a circular orbit about 395 miles up (635 kilometers) about 57 minutes after liftoff. After a checkout period, the spacecraft will eye our planet in radar light, gathering data for a variety of customers.

"Capella's satellites deliver the highest quality, high resolution SAR imagery commercially available with the ability to penetrate all weather conditions and capture clear imagery 24-7, day and night, anywhere on Earth," Rocket Lab wrote in the mission's press kit, which you can find here.

"The next-generation Acadia satellites include several new features that will enable faster downlink speeds and even higher-quality images for fast, reliable insights that are easily accessible through Capella's fully automated ordering and delivery platform," they added.

More:
https://www.space.com/rocket-lab-launch-we-will-never-desert-you