Monday, July 17, 2023

NASA Plans Launch On Rocket Lab Today

NASA said today that it is launching four satellites today, on a rocket from Long Beach-based Rocket Lab. According to NASA, the NASA Starling CubeSat mission will send four "cereal-box-sized" satellites into low Earth orbit, in order to test "autonomous spacecraft swarm technologies". The launch is targeted for 7:30pm PST, with a launch from New Zealand. NASA said that, if successfully launched, the spacecraft will demonstrate maneuver planning, communications networking, relative navigation, and autonomous coordinated science measurements, all with minimal intervention from operators on the ground.