Rocket Lab picks up deal to help monitor space debris

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Space debris will be better monitored if a new space mission from Mahia is successful.

Rocket Lab this week announced it has signed a dedicated launch deal with Spire Global to deliver its first four Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites to low Earth orbit for its Space Services customer NorthStar Earth & Space Inc.

The dedicated mission on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket will deploy the satellites to a 530km circular orbit from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, during a launch window that opens in September.

NorthStar, headquartered in Montreal, Canada, is the first commercial SSA service provider to actively scan and monitor space from space. NorthStar’s block of four satellites, built and operated by Spire, will be the first to simultaneously monitor all near-Earth orbits from space, delivering a radically enhanced level of SSA services to the global satellite community, with timely and precise information for space object detection, tracking, orbit determination, collision avoidance, navigation, and proximity alerts.

“Space debris is a global issue and the responsibility of all space users, so it’s great to be supporting a mission with a focus on making Earth’s orbit safer for everyone,” Rocket Lab founder and chief executive Peter Beck said.

The mission was originally manifested to launch with a now defunct launch provider but has been added to Rocket Lab’s 2023 launch manifest to provide an expedited launch.

“We recognise the highly effective effort from both Spire Global and Rocket Lab to preserve our plans to make a meaningful contribution to the safety and sustainability of space by launching our unique services this fall,” Northstar chief executive Stewart Bain said.

Spire Space Services general manager Frank Frulio said the Space as a Service model was developed to take the previously prohibitive cost, complexity, and risk out of the equation.

“This allows innovative companies like NorthStar to develop and deploy cutting edge solutions from the vantage point of space, focusing on solving some of the most significant problems we face today.

“Rocket Lab offers the flexibility of a dedicated launch that meets the requirements of NorthStar’s mission, giving us the ability to launch the satellites on our timeline and to the exact orbit needed.”