Rocket Lab sends three satellites into orbit for the US military

Space, just like software, automobiles, real estate, telecommunications, etc. is rapidly becoming an industry with multiple corporations racing ahead for a greater share of its market. SpaceX can rightly be said to have stimulated the race for space, but Rocket Lab is hot on its heels. The ambitious company has just launched three satellites for the United States military from a single rocket. After a day of delays, Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket was launched from the company’s launch site in Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand’s North Island. 

The first satellite is Harbinger and would mainly be used to showcase radar imaging and high-bandwidth download capabilities from a small satellite. The second satellite is Space Plug and Play Architecture Research CubeSat-1 (SPARC-1), which will test spacecraft avionics. The third satellite was the Falcon Orbital Debris Experiment (Falcon ODE) which would help ground based observation stations to monitor and track debris in space.

Rocket Lab stated that the launch was a success and that all satellites have been deployed as intended. The satellites have been launched as part of the Air Force’s Rapid Agile Launch Initiative (RALI), which aims to utilize rocket companies to secure immediate launches and better reachability to orbit as a whole.

It is clear that companies are vying for a larger chunk of the space market and only time will tell as to who would dominate the space race.