Rocket Lab's Electron Launches NASA Starling CubeSat Mission in New Zealand

Rocket Lab's Electron Launches NASA Starling CubeSat Mission in New Zealand

The ‘Baby Come Back’ Electron rocket mission lifted off successfully from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand on July 18 NZST, 2023, with NASA’s Starling Mission consisting of four CubeSats designed to advance technologies for cooperative groups of spacecraft—also known as swarms. Spacecraft swarms refer to multiple spacecraft autonomously coordinating their activities on orbit. Once positioned in orbit around Earth and spaced about 40 miles/64 km apart, Starling’s spacecraft will demonstrate the ability to autonomously fly together while keeping track of each other’s relative positions and trajectories. They also will demonstrate the ability to plan and execute activities as a group, without guidance from mission controllers, including responding to new information from onboard sensors. Starling’s spacecraft will also demonstrate creating and maintaining an inter-spacecraft communications network that automatically adjusts to changing conditions. The Starling mission will test whether the technologies work as expected, what their limitations are, and what developments are still needed for CubeSat swarms to be successful.

Learn more about NASA's Starling Mission: 

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/small_spacecraft/starling/

Baby Come Back launched a total of seven satellites to a sun synchronous orbit for three customers: NASA, Space Flight Laboratory and Spire Global. Baby Come Back is Rocket Lab’s seventh Electron launch of 2023, 39th Electron launch overall, and the Company’s second recovery mission this year.  After launch, Electron’s first stage returned to Earth under a parachute and completed a soft splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Rocket Lab’s marine recovery vessel then extracted the stage from the ocean and transported it back to Rocket Lab’s production complex for analysis.

This Electron first stage features new recovery upgrades including waterproofing systems to protect key engine and avionics components. Rocket Lab’s transition to marine recovery away from mid-air capture has been informed by previous recovery missions that showed Electron components and engines passed requalification testing following ocean splashdowns. This mission represents near final maturation of the marine recovery system in preparation for reflight of a booster.

Image Credit: Rocket Lab

Image Capture Date: July 17, 2023

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