Rocket Lab Secretly Launched its Own Company-made Satellite on Latest Flight
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Rocket Lab secretly launched its own company-made satellite on latest flight:
Small satellite launcher Rocket Lab says it has successfully flown one of its own satellites, demonstrating that the spacecraft's design holds up in Earth orbit. It's the first time the company has flown its in-house cylindrical spacecraft, known as the Photon, which Rocket Lab hopes to sell to customers for use in ambitious deep-space missions.
The satellite was secretly a part of Rocket Lab's most recent launch. On August 30th, the company's Electron rocket took off from Rocket Lab's primary launch site in New Zealand, lofting a single satellite for the company Capella Space. But once the satellite had separated from the rocket, part of the Electron actually turned into a satellite and remained in orbit around Earth. The satellite was Electron's kick stage - a small platform that sits on top of the rocket, helping to give satellites on the vehicle an extra boost in space. After the satellite was deployed, Rocket Lab sent a command to make it start operating like a satellite.
[...] When asked why the company didn't announce the Photon demonstration prior to launch, Beck said he wanted to make sure they executed and delivered the product first. "Well, I kind of like to just do stuff, and make sure it's all good and it works before announcing it," Beck said during a press conference. He added that he hoped "this one will be a little bit less controversial than the Humanity Star."
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