Rocket Lab / NASA - Electron / TROPICS Mission patch.
May 8, 2023
Two NASA CubeSats designed to study tropical cyclones, including hurricanes and typhoons, are in orbit after successfully launching at 1 p.m. Monday, NZST (9 p.m. EDT Sunday).
Image above: Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 1 at Māhia, New Zealand at 9:00 p.m., carrying two TROPICS CubeSats for NASA. Image Credit: Rocket Lab.
The first pair of the agency’s TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) lifted off aboard an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 Pad B in Māhia, New Zealand. Team members successfully sent commands to the first CubeSat at 1:48 a.m. EDT, May 8. Subsequently, they established communications with the second CubeSat at 6:31 a.m. EDT.
TROPICS is a constellation of four identical CubeSats designed to observe tropical cyclones in a unique, inclined low Earth orbit over Earth’s tropics – an orbit that allows them to travel over any given storm about once an hour. Current weather tracking satellites have a timing of about once every six hours.
NASA announced it selected Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Long Beach, California, to provide the launch service for the agency’s TROPICS mission, Nov. 23, 2022, as part of the VADR (Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) contract.
“Today’s launch service marks the first launch completed as part of the VADR contract, a significant milestone as we aim to enable greater access to space for science and technology missions,” said Bradley Smith, director, Launch Services for the Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “We look forward to increasing storm tracking capabilities with another launch later this month to complete the TROPICS constellation.”
The second pair of TROPICS CubeSats is planned to launch aboard another Rocket Lab Electron rocket in about two weeks. The second launch will be timed to insert the next two CubeSats into the TROPICS constellation.
“We are extremely proud of all our partners, including MIT Lincoln Labs, Blue Canyon Technologies, KSAT, and Rocket Lab for successfully executing on this first launch. We look forward to the entire constellation being on-orbit to realize the benefits for the agency, as well as for our colleagues around the world.” said Ben Kim, TROPICS program executive for NASA’s Earth Science Division.
The TROPICS team is led by Principal Investigator Bill Blackwell at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts, and includes researchers from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and several universities and commercial partners. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is managing the launch service.
Related articles & link:
Rocket Lab Updates Launch Location for NASA’s TROPICS Mission
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/04/rocket-lab-updates-launch-location-for.html
Astra Rocket 3.3 failed to launches TROPICS-1
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/06/astra-rocket-33-failed-to-launches.html
For more information about NASA’s TROPICS, visit: https://go.nasa.gov/3h46pJp
Images, Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Abbey Donaldson/Karen Fox/Kiana Raines/KSC/Leejay Lockhart/Rocket Lab/SciNews.