Watch Rocket Lab's Japanese Satellite Tsukuyomi-1 Launch

Space.com

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket launched the Tsukuyomi-1 from New Zealand. The "The Moon God Awakens" mission was Rocket Lab's since an earlier failure this year. Credit: Rocket Lab

Transcript

00:00 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

00:17 Lift off.

00:47 Electron has lifted off from Launch Complex 1 and we are 34 seconds into our flight.

00:52 With Electron now clear of the pads, soon we will approach Max Q, or Maximum Aerodynamic

00:58 Pressure, the moment of the most amount of stress against the rocket.

01:02 So let's listen in for the call from Mission Control that Electron has passed Max Q.

01:06 Vehicle is supersonic, approaching Max Q. High voltage discharge nominal.

01:24 Cleared Max Q.

01:28 And there you have it, Electron has cleared Max Q, a beautiful and nominal mission so

01:33 far, now up 15 kilometers in altitude as the rocket reaches speeds of more than 2,100 kilometers.

01:41 Next up are three mission milestones that happen in quick succession.

01:45 First up we have MECO, or Main Engine Cutoff.

01:47 This is when all nine Rutherford engines on the first stage throttle down and then shut

01:51 off completely.

01:53 Very quickly after that we have the separation of the first and second stages and you'll

01:57 see that main booster tank fall away from Electron's second stage.

02:01 We then have the ignition of the single Rutherford engine on Electron's second stage, excuse

02:06 me, as the mission continues to orbit.

02:08 Those calls should be coming up from our operators and Mission Control very shortly.

02:26 Stage one propulsion holding nominal.

02:27 Standby for MECO in roughly 30 seconds.

02:38 15 seconds to MECO.

02:42 Entered burnout detect mode.

02:55 MECO confirmed.

03:02 Stage separation successful.

03:04 Stage two ignition confirmed.

03:15 As you can probably tell from that applause, we have had a successful MECO stage separation

03:20 and second stage engine start for Electron.

03:24 Up next will be the fairing jettison where the two halves of Electron's protective fairing

03:28 split and fall away from the vehicle to expose IQPS's satellite to space in preparation for

03:34 payload deployment.

03:35 And we might see those two halves on screen too as we clear that next milestone.

03:41 Fairing jettison succeeded.

03:53 That was them there on your screen.

03:55 Electron's fairing halves have fallen away as planned.

03:58 At three minutes and 42 seconds into the mission, the single Rutherford engine on Electron's

04:03 second stage continues to burn bright as we make our way to orbit.

04:08 We have a new view of the engine's nozzle that includes a nitrogen bottle that you can

04:12 see on the top left of your screen, which has been introduced as part of an update to

04:16 the second stage system.

04:18 Now this is providing pressurized gas to the enclosure covering the second stage electrical

04:24 system, helping to minimize the chances of electrical arcs.

04:28 Soon we'll reach a mission milestone unique to Electron, the battery hot swap.

04:33 Electron's fuel pumps are battery powered and once we deplete the first set of batteries,

04:37 they're of no use to us anymore.

04:38 And so we swap them out with a fresh set, ejecting the depleted ones so that they don't

04:42 hitch a ride to orbit.

04:44 That milestone should be coming up at around six minutes and 43 seconds into the mission,

04:48 and so we have a while to wait for that milestone just yet.

04:56 We are now four minutes and 42 seconds into flight and well on our way to orbit.

05:01 So far we have successfully lifted off, cleared the pad and passed through Max Q, as well

05:06 as had main engine cutoff and stage separation.

05:09 Now attached to Electron's second stage is the kick stage, where you can see IQPS's satellite

05:14 right there, which is poised for deployment to a 575 kilometer orbit.

05:20 If you take a look at the top graph on the right there, you can see that we have about

05:24 61% of propellant remaining, which will take us through to about T plus nine and a half

05:30 minutes where we will have engine shutdown and kick stage separation.

05:34 240 seconds remaining, guidance is nominal.

05:46 The stage two Rutherford engine continues to perform nominally and Electron is climbing

05:50 steadily to its target apogee of 575 kilometers above Earth.

05:55 And what a beautiful view we have so far.

05:58 The IQPS payload atop the kick stage is less than an hour away from its home in orbit.

06:19 As we approach battery hot swap in the next 30 seconds or so, keep your eyes peeled because

06:23 sometimes you can catch a glimpse of these battery packs falling away.

06:27 A reminder that it will look a little different than usual due to the remedial work done on

06:31 the stage two power pack.

06:33 Let's listen in for the call out for mission control.

06:50 Hot swap successful.

06:55 That was the call that battery hot swap is confirmed and the mission is proceeding as

07:00 planned.

07:01 In about three minutes, Electron's second stage will experience SECO or second engine

07:05 cutoff.

07:06 Now, much like main engine cutoff, the stage two Rutherford will throttle down before the

07:11 kick stage separates as it continues on to payload deployment.

07:14 HVB battery discharge holding nominal.

07:41 Alright a quick check in on the dials at T plus seven minutes and 28 seconds.

07:46 Electron is traveling at a speed of over 17,000 kilometers per hour and approaching an altitude

07:51 of about 242 kilometers, which with some quick maths brings us another 300 or so kilometers

07:58 to go in this mission.

08:00 Now after we reach that target, we will have a coast phase of about 45 minutes as the kick

08:05 stage scoots around the other side of Earth and back into position ready for payload deployment.

08:10 Stage two propulsion still holding nominal.

08:21 The team and mission control are closely monitoring the stage two burn as we get closer and closer

08:25 to SECO or second engine cutoff.

08:28 Just a minute to go until that milestone with Electron and the IQPS payload remaining healthy.

08:33 Reminder that this version of Rutherford is designed for the vacuum of space, so the glowing

08:37 nozzle you see on your screen there is much larger than the sea level variant of the engine

08:42 used on stage one.

08:44 This larger nozzle extracts more energy from the exhaust as it expands, increasing the

08:48 performance of the engine.

09:08 And as we mentioned before, one of the final milestones coming up for this mission is SECO.

09:25 Now we will see the second stage engine throttle down ahead of shutoff, then the kick stage,

09:29 which the satellite is attached to, will separate and begin its coast phase.

09:33 Let's listen in to mission control for the calls.

10:00 And with that, the Rutherford engine on Electron's second stage has successfully shut down and

10:04 stage two and the kick stage have cleanly separated.

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