'It's Business Time': Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck counting down to first commercial launch from Mahia later in June

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket on stand-by at Mahia for the "It's Businesss Time" mission. Photo / Rocket Lab.

Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck says he is excited about the company's upcoming commercial rocket launch as it looks to complement its Mahia launch facility with others around the world.

Speaking ahead of the US-based company's expected rocket launch later this month, Beck said preparations were coming along well.

"The vehicle's out on the pad. So we're just going through all the normal pre-flight checks and preparing for the launch window."

The company delayed the original "It's Business Time" rocket launch because of a technical issue last month.

"We found the route cause of that and rectified the process," Beck said.

A new 14-day launch window for the upcoming mission would start from June 23, with daily launch opportunities between 12.30pm and 4.30pm.

The launch is billed as the company's first "fully commercial launch'' after two test flights but Beck said he was not feeling any nerves ahead of the launch.

"Every flight you are heavily invested in. From a commercial stand-point, we had commercial payloads on the last one. You reach a level of pressure that bottoms out in that fact that its always the same stakes, whether it's a test or a commercial flight and we do our best to prepare the vehicle."

The company's launch manifest is now fully booked for 2018, and it already has some bookings years ahead.

"Right now we're the only ride in town, the only dedicated small-launch vehicle that's operational and only one of two private companies actually offering orbital launch services. What we're seeing here is just the business model playing out as anticipated."

He was particularly pleased the Electron rocket had proven to be a very good vehicle.

"It's very pleasing to be able to sign those customers. One of things that we are seeing, that's more exciting, is that satellite builders are actually building now specifically for Electron. So they are designing spacecraft specifically so it can go any fly in the Electron launch vehicle."

The company was recruiting four to five new employees every week and was expanding "everywhere" as it entered a "pretty steep growth phase".

"We're expanding our factory in New Zealand, our factory in the US, and launch pads. We're expanding at rapid rate. This year [we're] aiming to launch one a month, next year it's every two weeks and we're planning to double down on that."

The company aimed to build "various" launch pads at other sites around the world but the Mahia facility - the first of its kind in the world - continued to service the company's needs very well.

The payload for the upcoming launch would include (amongst others) IRVINE01, an educational payload from the Irvine CubeSat STEM Program (ICSP), and NABEO, a drag sail technology demonstrator designed and built by High Performance Space Structure Systems GmBH.

The NABEO drag sail is a system created to passively de-orbit inactive small satellites. The small sail is an ultra-thin membrane that can be coiled up tightly within a spacecraft and then deployed once the satellite reaches the end of its orbital lifespan.

The reflective panels unfold to 2.5sq m to increase the spacecraft's surface area, causing it to experience greater drag and pull the satellite back into the Earth's atmosphere, enabling much faster de-orbiting and reducing the amount of space junk in low earth orbit.

The Irvine CubeSat STEM Program is a joint educational endeavour to teach, train and inspire the next generation of STEM professionals. It is comprised of students from six American high schools (Beckman, Irvine, Northwood, Porto la, University, and Woodbridge) in the city of Irvine, California, and powered by private sector donation through Irvine Public Schools Foundation.