On Sunday, January 21, in New Zealand, Rocket Lab launched satellites to orbit for the first time on the second test flight of its Electron rocket—a major milestone for this burgeoning rocket company, and one that could boost the company's hopes of making it big in the small satellite market.

The U.S. aerospace company (with holdings in New Zealand) launched the rocket from the first private launch pad in the world, situated on the Māhia Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island, at 2:43 p.m. local time. The second test launch of Electron carried three small satellites into orbit, an achievement that heralds Rocket Lab's entry into the commercial launch industry.



It turns out the launch was even more involved than you would've guessed watching the livestream. Today, Rocket Lab announced that the second flight of Electron (a mission they called "Still Testing") carried a new "kick stage" that was used to maneuver two of the satellites in space and send them into a circular orbit. The kick stage consists of a small restartable rocket engine called Curie. Here's how it worked.

Rocket Lab kick stage, with the four silver spheres of the new Curie engine seen in the middle. Rocket Lab

Electron launched from the pad on the Māhia Peninsula as the nine oxygen-kerosene Rutherford engines on the rocket's first stage—the first electric pump-fed rocket engines in the world, 3D printed by Rocket Lab—propelled the rocket upward. About two and a half minutes after launch, the second stage separated from the first and continued to climb using one, vacuum-optimized Rutherford engine. Eight minutes and 31 seconds after liftoff, an Earth-imaging Dove satellite built by the company Planet was released into an elliptical orbit.

However, when the other two satellites deployed from the second stage, they were attached to the kick stage. You could not see the kick stage in the livestream, but it continued to coast for about 40 minutes before the Curie engine—a small 120-Newton thrust engine, also 3D printed by Rocket Lab—ignited. It then placed the two small sats, weather and ship-tracking Lemur-2 CubeSats built by the company Spire Global, into a circular orbit.

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“Until now many small satellite operators have had to compromise on optimal orbits in order to reach space at an accessible cost," said Rocket Lab CEO and founder Peter Beck in a press release. "The kick stage releases small satellites from the constricting parameters of primary payload orbits and enables them to full reach their potential, including faster deployment of small satellite constellations and better positioning for Earth imaging."



Rocket Lab, founded more than a decade ago, has big dreams. The Kiwi spaceflight company hopes someday to launch about 50 Electron rockets a year, or about one per week. Though Electron is relatively small at only 17 meters (56 feet), the launch vehicle's main body is made of carbon composite materials, making it light and efficient enough to reach orbit.

Rocket Lab is targeting the small satellite industry as its clientele. That market is expected to grow substantially, and Rocket Lab aims to position itself as the cheapest, most reliable, and most flexible launch provider in the world for small payloads.

The kick stage and Curie engine, developed under the hood and only announced after they had successfully flown a mission in space, expand the versatility of Rocket Lab's Electron rocket substantially. The kick stage even has its own precision gas thruster control system, avionics package, power source, and communications system. The small stage uses its propulsion system to de-orbit after the deploying its payload, reducing the amount of space junk left behind by launches.

Rocket Lab is planning its next launch in early 2018, and the company is currently building five more Electron launch vehicles. With additional launch agreements already signed by the likes of NASA, Moon Express, Planet, Spire Global, and Spaceflight Industries, the future of Rocket Lab looks bright—and the secret kick stage the company built just makes Electron that much more attractive to customers looking to place something in space.

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