this post was submitted on 31 May 2024
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Rocket Lab

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A community for discussing Rocket Lab, the US/New Zealand aerospace company. All posts related to Rocket Lab are welcome.

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Rocket Lab "PREFIRE And Ice" Launch Thread! (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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PREFIRE And Ice

Just a week after the first PREFIRE spacecraft were launched, it's time for part two!

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-06-05 03:00 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (NZST) | 2024-06-05 15:00 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1B, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customers | NASA | | Payloads | PREFIRE | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into Sun-Synchronous Orbit |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBBhzkNzcYQ (scrub) | Everyday Astronaut | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyw7FyMzsgI (scrub) | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFygbJ4BiSs

Stats

  • This will be the 7th launch for Rocket Lab this year.
  • This will be the 49th overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

The PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission will send two CubeSats into space to study how much heat the planet absorbs and emits from its polar regions, including the Arctic and Antarctica.

Analysis of PREFIRE measurements will inform climate and ice models, providing better projections of how a warming world will affect sea ice loss, ice sheet melt, and sea level rise. Improving climate models can ultimately help to provide more accurate projections on the impacts of storm severity and frequency, as well as coastal erosion and flooding.

SpaceflightNow article

Previous mission (Ready, Aim, PREFIRE) | Next mission (No Time Toulouse)

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively new community, so feedback is very valuable!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Ooh a daytime one! I'll have to see what we are doing at that time, would be nice to get to see another one live.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Rocket Lab webcast is live! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKV9Nf6oVJI

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Go no-go poll is complete, teams polled go for launch.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Hold called at T-4 minutes and 45 seconds. Reason for the hold unclear.

Edit: Countdown clock will reset to T-12 minutes. They are currently waiting for the teams to establish a new T-0.

Edit2: https://x.com/RocketLab/status/1796742454550684098

Electron has entered a hold due to a sensor reading. Operators are assessing options for recycling the count for today's PREFIRE launch.

Edit3: They just announced that 20 minutes remains in today's launch window. In my opinion, a scrub seems likely, but you never know...

Edit4: Countdown resumed at T-15 minutes! New T-0 is 03:46 UTC (15:46 NZST)!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Hold called at T-2:07. I believe this was the last launch opportunity in today's window, so this is likely a "see you tomorrow" (or later) situation.

Edit: Yep, they're preparing to detank the propellant.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Disappointing. Do they have a rescheduled time and date?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Not yet: https://x.com/RocketLab/status/1796756263302496517

Launch update: We stood down from today's launch attempt for 'PREFIRE and Ice' for @NASA but we have plenty back-up opportunities in the coming days. Stay tuned for the new launch date soon.

The earliest launch window would be the following day, but it could take longer than that to diagnose and fix whatever the issue was.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Ah right, that makes sense. Thanks for the update 🙂

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Reason for scrub was LOX temperature: https://x.com/RocketLab/status/1796795251979628778

Launch update 🚀We stood down from today’s launch attempt due to LOx temperatures being out of bounds for flight, but the resolution is well underway for the next attempt.

New launch date is Jun 5th: https://x.com/RocketLab/status/1797843874385363015

Launch update🚀We are GO for tomorrow's launch attempt for the 'PREFIRE and Ice' mission for @NASA, our second launch for the PREFIRE mission to monitor Earth's heat loss from the world's coldest regions.

Launch window opens NET:
🚀NZT | 15:00
🚀UTC | 03:00
🚀EDT | 23:00
🚀PDT | 20:00

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

MECO, stage separation, stage 2 ignition, and fairing jettison confirmed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Launch webcast has started! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBBhzkNzcYQ

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

SECO and kickstage separation confirmed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Liftoff!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Battery hot-swap confirmed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Curie engine circularization burn confirmed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Deployment of NASA PREFIRE satellite confirmed.

Edit: Webcast ended, though a "burn 2" was listed on the timeline. Possibly a deorbit burn for the kickstage?