Electron | NorthStar 3

Space Situational Awareness

Time to liftoff

Date unconfirmed

Target Window

Unconfirmed

Exact time to be confirmed

Net Precision

Decade

DEC

— Mission

NorthStar 3

Low Earth Orbit· LEO

Four space situational awareness (SSA) satellites for Canadian company NorthStar Earth and Space.

— Rocket

Vehicle

Electron

Electron is a two-stage orbital expendable launch vehicle (with an optional third stage) developed by the American aerospace company Rocket Lab. Electron is a small-lift launch vehicle designed to launch small satellites and cubesats to sun-synchronous orbit and low earth orbit. The Electron is the first orbital class rocket to use electric-pump-fed engines, powered by the 9 Rutherford engines on the first stage. It is also used as a suborbital testbed (called HASTE) for hypersonics research.

Length: 18 m
Diameter: 1.2 m
Launch Mass: 13 t
LEO Capacity: 300 kg
Maiden Flight: 2017

Launches

Success

Failures

— Launch Provider

Commercial

Rocket Lab

Est. 2006 · CEO: Peter Beck

Rocket Lab is an American aerospace manufacturer with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. The company develops lightweight, cost-effective commercial rocket launch services. The Electron Program was founded on the premise that small payloads such as CubeSats require dedicated small launch vehicles and flexibility not currently offered by traditional rocket systems. Its rocket, the Electron, is a light-weight rocket and is now operating commercially. The company is also producing a variety of spacecrafts and spacecrafts components.

Total

Success

Pending

Electron | NorthStar 3

NorthStar 3

Electron

Unknown Pad

Rocket Lab