Electron | Kakushin Rising (JAXA Rideshare)
Launch Successful
L - -- : -- : -- : --
Instantaneous launch window.
Launch Window
April 23, 2026, 3:09 a.m. - April 23, 2026, 3:09 a.m.
Instantaneous launch window.
April 23, 2026, 3:09 a.m. - April 23, 2026, 3:09 a.m.
JAXA-manifested rideshare of eight separate spacecraft that includes educational small sats, an ocean monitoring satellite, a demonstration satellite for ultra-small multispectral cameras, and a deployable antenna that can be packed tightly using origami folding techniques and unfurled to 25 times its size. The satellites were originally planned to launch with RAISE-4 on a Japanese Epsilon-S rocket, but the Epsilon-S was heavily delayed due to test firing failures. The 8 satellites are: * MAGNARO-II * KOSEN-2R * WASEDA-SAT-ZERO-II * FSI-SAT2 * OrigamiSat-2 * Mono-Nikko * ARICA-2 * PRELUDE
Launch success.
Liftoff.
Official Webcast by Rocket Lab has started
Launch pad assigned.
GO for launch.
Electron is a two-stage orbital expendable launch vehicle (with an optional third stage) developed by the American aerospace company Rocket Lab. Electron is a small-lift launch vehicle designed to launch small satellites and cubesats to sun-synchronous orbit and low earth orbit. The Electron is the first orbital class rocket to use electric-pump-fed engines, powered by the 9 Rutherford engines on the first stage. It is also used as a suborbital testbed (called HASTE) for hypersonics research.
See DetailsRocket Lab is an American aerospace manufacturer with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. The company develops lightweight, cost-effective commercial rocket launch services. The Electron Program was founded on the premise that small payloads such as CubeSats require dedicated small launch vehicles and flexibility not currently offered by traditional rocket systems. Its rocket, the Electron, is a light-weight rocket and is now operating commercially. The company is also producing a variety of spacecrafts and spacecrafts components.
INFO WIKI
"If it doesn’t rely on a solid, there’s no reason why we can’t launch."
Seven missions, four countries, and five launch vehicles make the week of April 20 one… The post Launch Preview: GPS, Progress, and Starlink missions to launch during busy week appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.
The Japanese space agency JAXA has selected Rocket Lab to launch a set of technology demonstration satellites on Electron rockets after continued delays with a Japanese launch vehicle. The post JAXA to launch tech demo satellites on Elect…
Fourteenth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Offi…
Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, thi…
AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…
Note: Unofficial reports indicate there may be 1 or more additional satellites that failed to separate from the upper stage, however this is not offi…
A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…
Classified experimental Chinese satellite of unknown purposes (officially described for "spatial environment detection" purposes).
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
8 Earth observation satellites for the Jilin-1 commercial Earth observation satellites constellation: * High Resolution-04D 01-02 * High Resoluti…
A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Test flight of the H3-30 variant of the H3 launch vehicle with 3 LE-9 engines in the first stage and no SRBs. The flight will carry a dummy main payl…