![]() NASA picked Astra to launch TROPICS on three of its Rocket 3.3 vehicles, in a contract valued at about $8 million, but the first two TROPICS satellites were lost in a June 2022 launch failure from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The original TROPICS constellation consisted of six cubesats in three orbital places at an inclination of 30 degrees and altitude of 550 kilometers, spaced out to maximize the temporal resolution of the constellation. NASA opted for dedicated launches of TROPICS cubesats on small launch vehicles, rather than flying them as rideshares on larger vehicles, because of the mission’s specific orbital requirements. That launch is tentatively scheduled for early May from Pad-0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Rocket Lab’s LC-2, also called Pad-0C, is right next to Pad-0A. However, the change does avoid a potential conflict with a Northrop Grumman Antares launch of a Cygnus cargo mission to the International Space Station. The company did not disclose why the launches could not take place from LC-2 as originally planned other than that the shift to New Zealand would ensure they would launch in the second quarter. “Because we operate three launch pads across two countries, we can constantly assess the launch manifest and adapt launch schedules and locations based on customer and mission requirements.” “With the 2023 hurricane season fast approaching, time is of the essence for these missions,” Peter Beck, chief executive of Rocket Lab, said in a company statement. Each TROPICS cubesat carries a passive microwave spectrometer that will provide temperature and humidity measurements to help monitor the development of tropical storm systems. Rocket Lab said the change is intended to ensure that the satellites are launched in time to be in service when the 2023 North Atlantic hurricane season begins this summer. ![]() Each launch will carry two TROPICS cubesats. The second, called “Coming to a Storm Near You,” is scheduled for May 15. The first launch, dubbed “Rocket Like a Hurricane” by the company, is scheduled for no earlier than April 30. Rocket Lab announced April 10 that a pair of Electron launches of NASA’s Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) satellites, previously planned to take place from the company’s Launch Complex (LC) 2 at Wallops Island, Virginia, will instead fly from LC-1 in New Zealand. WASHINGTON - Rocket Lab has shifted a pair of Electron launches of NASA storm-monitoring cubesats from Virginia to New Zealand, avoiding a potential conflict with another launch.
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