Jan 20, 2018 04:31 AM
(This post was last modified: Jan 20, 2018 06:27 AM by Yazata.)
Rocketlab is trying for the first satellite launch from New Zealand right now. It's streaming live here (I love watching these):
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/live-stream/
They may be having some problems since last I saw, they were holding at T - 20 minutes.
Edit: They just pushed it back up to T - 40 minutes, but at least its counting down again.
Mission Control Auckland says that part of the difficulty is a ship passing too close to the launch site. Another has to do with available launch windows to avoid possibility of collisions with satellites already up in orbit. They anticipate that the ship will have cleared by the time a launch widow opens up. But weather is deteriorating and they may have to postpone the launch.
Edit 2: T - 25 minutes and counting. The ship is leaving the danger zone and weather is still ok. (The sky looks clear but the launch site is prone to high winds.)
It's weird how it's a dark winter night here, and it's a bright summer day in NZ. (Damn foreigners.) I guess that a spherical planet is like that. The beauty of New Zealand is where else would there be cows contentedly grazing next to a space launch site?
Despite Mission Control being in Auckland NZ, the voice of mission control has an American accent.
This is a much smaller rocket than the SpaceX Falcons. While those can lift tons into orbit, this little rocket (called the 'Electron') can only orbit about 150 kg. But I like watching this kind of 'space travel for the rest of us'. (It reminds me of the band of aviation mavericks and their 'do it yourself spaceship' of 2004 that won the X Prize.)
Edit 3: As the clock passed through T - 20, a NZ voice came on speaking incomprehensible gibberish that sounded vaguely Scottish. The American voice asked him to repeat it, and then said he still didn't get it. So the NZ voice spoke slowly one word at a time, "Do. You. Want. To. Hold. At. T-20?" They are currently doing a go/no-go poll. (NASA, it's not.)
Edit 4: They are going to hold at T - 12 minutes because avionics was a no-go. They aren't getting data from some onboard instrument that should be producing data.
Edit 5: They have just scrubbed today's launch. They could apparently go without the malperforming instrument, but two more ships were entering the range (if this was the US you would have helicopters and Coast Guard ships on you if you tried entering a rocket range, but this is New Zealand) and high altitude winds were rising above specifications. So they are going to try again tomorrow at the same time (evening North America time). Look for a link to the live-stream here:
https://www.rocketlabusa.com
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/live-stream/
They may be having some problems since last I saw, they were holding at T - 20 minutes.
Edit: They just pushed it back up to T - 40 minutes, but at least its counting down again.
Mission Control Auckland says that part of the difficulty is a ship passing too close to the launch site. Another has to do with available launch windows to avoid possibility of collisions with satellites already up in orbit. They anticipate that the ship will have cleared by the time a launch widow opens up. But weather is deteriorating and they may have to postpone the launch.
Edit 2: T - 25 minutes and counting. The ship is leaving the danger zone and weather is still ok. (The sky looks clear but the launch site is prone to high winds.)
It's weird how it's a dark winter night here, and it's a bright summer day in NZ. (Damn foreigners.) I guess that a spherical planet is like that. The beauty of New Zealand is where else would there be cows contentedly grazing next to a space launch site?
Despite Mission Control being in Auckland NZ, the voice of mission control has an American accent.
This is a much smaller rocket than the SpaceX Falcons. While those can lift tons into orbit, this little rocket (called the 'Electron') can only orbit about 150 kg. But I like watching this kind of 'space travel for the rest of us'. (It reminds me of the band of aviation mavericks and their 'do it yourself spaceship' of 2004 that won the X Prize.)
Edit 3: As the clock passed through T - 20, a NZ voice came on speaking incomprehensible gibberish that sounded vaguely Scottish. The American voice asked him to repeat it, and then said he still didn't get it. So the NZ voice spoke slowly one word at a time, "Do. You. Want. To. Hold. At. T-20?" They are currently doing a go/no-go poll. (NASA, it's not.)
Edit 4: They are going to hold at T - 12 minutes because avionics was a no-go. They aren't getting data from some onboard instrument that should be producing data.
Edit 5: They have just scrubbed today's launch. They could apparently go without the malperforming instrument, but two more ships were entering the range (if this was the US you would have helicopters and Coast Guard ships on you if you tried entering a rocket range, but this is New Zealand) and high altitude winds were rising above specifications. So they are going to try again tomorrow at the same time (evening North America time). Look for a link to the live-stream here:
https://www.rocketlabusa.com
![[Image: DU6kqokU0AArjUS.jpg:large]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DU6kqokU0AArjUS.jpg:large)
