Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Warp-speed ahead: Rocket Lab's fastest turnaround yet at Mahia, three weeks between launches

By Sahiban Hyde
Hawkes Bay Today·
15 Jun, 2020 10:18 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The electron launch vehicle. Photo / Supplied

The electron launch vehicle. Photo / Supplied

Rocket Lab has announced its next launch will be just three weeks after its most recent mission.

The mission, "Pics Or It Didn't Happen," is scheduled to launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 Pad A on Māhia Peninsula no earlier than July 3.

It demonstrates the site's rapid turnaround capability, with the last one on June 13.

READ MORE:
• Watch live: Rocket Lab launches 'Don't Stop Me Now' mission
• Saturday launch hopes: Will Rocket Lab fly today?
• Rocket Lab successfully launches - with controversial payload
• Peter Beck's Rocket Lab takes giant step toward first US launch

Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said it had a unique capability to provide dedicated and responsive space access to small satellite customers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Rocket Lab has eliminated the small satellite waiting room for orbit," Beck said.

"We've focused heavily on shoring up our rapid launch capability in recent years and we're proud to be putting that into practice for the small sat community with launches just days apart.

"We're excited to continue expanding our responsive space capability with our third launch pad coming online before the end of the year, as well as the continued growth of our Photon satellite program that enables our small sat operators to do more, spend less, and get to orbit faster."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Pics Or It Didn't Happen" will deploy seven small satellites to a 500km circular low Earth orbit for a range of customers including Spaceflight Inc's customer Canon Electronics, as well as Planet and In-Space Missions.

The next five spacecrafts manifested for this mission are the latest generation of SuperDove satellites manufactured by Planet, operator of the world's largest constellation of Earth-observation satellites.

Planet's satellites are capable of imaging the Earth's entire landmass on a near-daily basis.

This unprecedented dataset helps researchers, students, businesses and governments discover patterns, detect early signals of change, and make timely, informed decisions.

Discover more

Employment

Government allowed 26 Rocket Lab employees into NZ

16 Jun 06:37 AM

The final spacecraft aboard Electron for this mission has been supplied by British small mission prime, In-Space Missions.

With a new Electron launch vehicle built every 18 days, Rocket Lab remains on target to deliver monthly launches for the remainder of this and into next.

This includes the company's first launch from Launch Complex 2 for the US Space Force in Q3 and a mission to the Moon for Nasa aboard Electron and Rocket Lab's spacecraft bus platform Photon in 2021.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

12 Jul 12:43 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Green light for fires on Napier beaches after council quietly revokes bylaw

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

St John defends decision not to send ambulance to toddler who broke jaw in fall

11 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

Landslide sparks evacuations, roads closed, homes flooded after storm

12 Jul 12:43 AM

The North Island is expected to get off to a wet start this morning, with lingering rain.

Green light for fires on Napier beaches after council quietly revokes bylaw

Green light for fires on Napier beaches after council quietly revokes bylaw

11 Jul 06:00 PM
St John defends decision not to send ambulance to toddler who broke jaw in fall

St John defends decision not to send ambulance to toddler who broke jaw in fall

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
John Jenkins: Empire State another jumper on the rise

John Jenkins: Empire State another jumper on the rise

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP