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Electron KS (Still Testing) [Rocket Lab]
Electron is a small liquid fueled orbital launch vehicle, which is being developed by Rocket Lab, a US/New Zealand company. Both stages are RP-1 and LOX fueled.
Electron has a carbon composite structure of 1.2 m diameter and 20 m length.
The powerplant of Electron is Rocket Lab's Rutherford engine using LOX/RP-1 as fuels. Rutherford adopts an new electric propulsion cycle, using electric motors to drive its pumps, and is the first oxygen/hydrocarbon engine to use 3D printing for all primary components. Electron’s first stage is powered by multiple Rutherford engines with a total peak thrust of 146.6 kN. Electron’s second stage is powered by a Rutherford Vacuum Engine which is tailored to provide improved performance in vacuum conditions. An additional kick stage powered by Rocket Lab's Curie engine running on an unspecified “green” monopropellant is availlable for increased flexibility of the missions.
To avoid complications with payload processing a containerized approach will be used, where customers encapsulate their satellites in payload fairings provided by the company, which can be stored and easily attached to the rocket shortly before launch.
Ecliptic Enterprises will offer hosted payloads on the kick stage, which will remain attached to the kick stage.
Rocket Lab had originally selected Birdling's Flat (Kaitorete Spit), Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand as a launch site. It is located 44 km from Christchurch. It is unclear if this site remains a future option. Due to legal issues, another launch site at Onenui Station on the Mahia peninsula on the North Island was selected for the maiden flights. In October 2018, Rocket Lab selected Wallops Island as the launch pad for the USA.
The Electron vehicle carries up to 225 kg payloads to low earth orbit. The payload for a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit is 100 kg.
The first Electron launch was planned for late 2016, but has been delayed for early 2017, with commercial operations scheduled to begin later in 2017. The vehicle will have a cost of $4.9 M. The first launch took place in May 2017, but failed to reach orbit. The second vehicle was successfully launched in January 2018.
→ complete list of all Electron launches.
| Version | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electron KS | Stage 1 / 9 × Rutherford | Stage 2 / Rutherford-Vacuum | Kick Stage (KS) / Curie |
| Performance (kg) | LEO | LPEO | SSO | GTO | GEO | MolO | IP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electron KS | 100 | - | - | - | - |
No. TypNo Type Date LS Payload
2 1 Electron KS 21.01.2018 OnS LC-1A Still Testing / Humanity Star / Lemur-2 72 / Lemur-2 73 / Dove Pioneer 3 2 Electron KS 11.11.2018 OnS LC-1A CICERO 10 / Lemur-2 82 / Lemur-2 83 / Proxima 1 / Proxima 2 / Irvine 01 / NABEO 1 4 3 Electron KS 16.12.2018 OnS LC-1A ALBus / CeREs / CHOMPTT / Da Vinci / ISX / NMTSat / RSat-P / Shields 1 / STF 1 / CubeSail A / CubeSail B / TOMSat EagleScout / TOMSat R3 / SHFT 1 5 4 Electron KS 28.03.2019 OnS LC-1A R3D2 6 5 Electron KS 05.05.2019 OnS LC-1A Harbinger (ICEYE X3) / SPARC 1 / Falcon-ODE 7 6 Electron KS 29.06.2019 OnS LC-1A BlackSky Global 3 / Painani 1 / Prometheus 2.7 / Prometheus 2.9 / ACRUX 1 / SpaceBEE 8, 9 8 7 Electron KS 19.08.2019 OnS LC-1A BlackSky Global 4 / BRO 1 / Pearl White 1 / Pearl White 2 9 8 Electron KS 17.10.2019 OnS LC-1A Palisade 10 9 Electron KS 06.12.2019 OnS LC-1A ALE 2 / NOOR 1A / NOOR 1B / ATL 1 / FossaSat 1 / SMOG-P / TRSI-Sat 11 10 Electron KS 31.01.2020 OnS LC-1A USA 294 (NROL 151) 12 11 Electron KS 13.06.2020 OnS LC-1A ANDESITE Mule / ANDESITE Node 1, ..., 8 / USA 301 / USA 302 / USA 303 / RAAF M2 Pathfinder 13 12 Electron KS 04.07.2020 F OnS LC-1A CE-SAT 1B / Flock-4e 1, ..., 5 / Faraday 1 15 13 Electron KS 28.10.2020 OnS LC-1A CE-SAT 2B / Flock-4e' 1, ..., 9 17 14 Electron KS 15.12.2020 OnS LC-1A StriX α 18 15 Electron KS 20.01.2021 OnS LC-1A GMS-T 21 16 Electron KS 29.07.2021 OnS LC-1A Monolith 23 17 Electron KS 09.12.2021 OnS LC-1A BlackSky Global 16 / BlackSky Global 17 24 18 Electron KS 28.02.2022 OnS LC-1B StriX β 25 19 Electron KS 02.04.2022 OnS LC-1A BlackSky Global 18 / BlackSky Global 20 28 20 Electron KS 13.07.2022 OnS LC-1A USA 334 (NROL 162) 29 21 Electron KS 04.08.2022 OnS LC-1B USA 335 (NROL 199) 30 22 Electron KS 15.09.2022 OnS LC-1B StriX 1 31 23 Electron KS 07.10.2022 OnS LC-1B GAzelle (Argos-4) 33 24 Electron KS 24.01.2023 WI LA-0C Hawk 6A, 6B, 6C 34 25 Electron KS 16.03.2023 WI LA-0C Capella 9 / Capella 10 36 26 Electron KS 08.05.2023 OnS LC-1B TROPICS 05 / TROPICS 06 37 27 Electron KS 26.05.2023 OnS LC-1B TROPICS 03 / TROPICS 07 41 28 Electron KS 19.09.2023 F OnS LC-1B Capella 12 42 29 Electron KS 15.12.2023 OnS LC-1B QPS-SAR 5 44 30 Electron KS 18.02.2024 OnS LC-1B ADRAS-J 45 31 Electron KS 12.03.2024 OnS LC-1B StriX 3 46 32 Electron KS 21.03.2024 WI LA-0C USA 352 (NROL 123) / AeroCube 16A / AeroCube 16B / Mola 47 33 Electron KS 23.04.2024 OnS LC-1B NEONSAT 1 / ACS3 48 34 Electron KS 25.05.2024 OnS LC-1B PREFIRE 1 49 35 Electron KS 05.06.2024 OnS LC-1B PREFIRE 2 50 36 Electron KS 20.06.2024 OnS LC-1B Kinéis 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E 51 37 Electron KS 02.08.2024 OnS LC-1B StriX 4 52 38 Electron KS 11.08.2024 OnS LC-1B Capella 13 53 39 Electron KS 20.09.2024 OnS LC-1A Kinéis 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E 54 40 Electron KS 05.11.2024 OnS LC-1B Protosat 1 56 41 Electron KS 25.11.2024 OnS LC-1B Kinéis 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E 58 42 Electron KS 21.12.2024 OnS LC-1B StriX 2 59 43 Electron KS 08.02.2025 OnS LC-1A Kinéis 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E 60 44 Electron KS 18.02.2025 OnS LC-1B BlackSky Global 31 61 45 Electron KS 15.03.2025 OnS LC-1B QPS-SAR 9 62 46 Electron KS 18.03.2025 OnS LC-1A Kinéis 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E 63 47 Electron KS 26.03.2025 OnS LC-1B OTC P1-1, ..., P1-8 64 48 Electron KS 17.05.2025 OnS LC-1A QPS-SAR 10 65 49 Electron KS 02.06.2025 OnS LC-1B BlackSky Global 32 66 50 Electron KS 11.06.2025 OnS LC-1A QPS-SAR 11 67 51 Electron KS 26.06.2025 OnS LC-1A Hawk 12A, 12B, 12C / Kestrel 0A 68 52 Electron KS 28.06.2025 OnS LC-1B Lyra 4 69 53 Electron KS 05.08.2025 OnS LC-1B QPS-SAR 12 70 54 Electron KS 23.08.2025 OnS LC-1A Calistus A, ..., E 73 55 Electron KS 14.10.2025 OnS LC-1A StriX 5 74 56 Electron KS 05.11.2025 OnS LC-1B QPS-SAR 14 76 50 Electron KS 20.11.2025 OnS LC-1A BlackSky Global 33 77 51 Electron KS 14.12.2025 OnS LC-1B RAISE 4 78 52 Electron KS 18.12.2025 WI LA-0C DISKSat A, B, C, D (STP-S30) 79 53 Electron KS 21.12.2025 OnS LC-1B QPS-SAR 15 80 54 Electron KS 22.01.2026 OnS LC-1A MR 1 / MR 2 81 55 Electron KS 30.01.2026 OnS LC-1A NEONSAT 1A 83 56 Electron KS 05.03.2026 OnS LC-1A BlackSky Global 34 84 57 Electron KS 20.03.2026 OnS LC-1B StriX 6 85 58 Electron KS 28.03.2026 OnS LC-1A Celeste IOD-1 / Celeste IOD-2 87 59 Electron KS 23.04.2026 OnS LC-1A PRELUDE / MAGNARO 2A, 2B / Mono-Nikko / OrigamiSat 2 / ARICA 2 / KOSEN 2R / FSI-SAT 2 / Waseda-SAT 0-2 88 60 Electron KS 22.05.2026 OnS LC-1B StriX 7 91 61 Electron KS 26.06.2026 OnS LC-1B StriX 8 92 62 Electron KS 06.08.2026 OnS LC-1A QPS-SAR 13 93 63 Electron KS 20.08.2026 OnS LC-1B QPS-SAR 18 94 64 Electron KS 02.09.2026 OnS LC-1B StriX 9 Planned x x Electron KS xx.08.2026 OnS LC-1 Aspera x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 BlackSky Global TBD5 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 BlackSky Global TBD6 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 BlackSky Global TBD7 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 BlackSky Global TBD8 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 BlackSky Global TBD9 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 Capella TBD4 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 Flock-y 1, ..., 20-25 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 Flock-z 1, ..., 20-25 x x Electron KS xx.xx.2025 WI LA-0C ? Hawk yA, yB, yC x x Electron KS xx.xx.2026 OnS LC-1 Lyra 2 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 McNair / ? x x Electron KS xx.xx.2026 OnS LC-1 NorthStar 5, ..., 8 x x Electron KS xx.xx.2026 OnS LC-1 NorthStar 9, ..., 12 x x Electron KS xx.xx.2027 OnS LC-1 PolSIR 1 x x Electron KS xx.xx.2027 OnS LC-1 PolSIR 2 x x Electron KS xx.xx.2026 OnS LC-1 QPS-SAR x9 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 QPS-SAR x10 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 QPS-SAR x11 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 QPS-SAR x12 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 QPS-SAR x13 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 QPS-SAR x14 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 QPS-SAR x15 x x Electron KS xx.xx.2027 OnS LC-1 QPS-SAR x16 x x Electron KS xx.xx.2027 OnS LC-1 QPS-SAR x17 x x Electron KS xx.xx.2027 OnS LC-1 QPS-SAR x18 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E6 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E7 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E8 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E9 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E10 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E11 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E12 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E13 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E14 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E15 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E16 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E17 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E18 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E19 x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 StriX TBD-E20 x x Electron KS xx.xx.2027 OnS LC-1 TSIS 2 x x Electron KS xx.xx.2026 OnS LC-1 (Confidential Customer E1) x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 (Confidential Customer E2) x x Electron KS xx.xx.202x OnS LC-1 (Confidential Customer E3) To be co-manifested: Launch sites: OnS = Onenui Station, Mahia, Wairoa, North Island, New ZealandWI = Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), Wallops Island, Virginia, USA
References:
- Rocket Lab: Electron
