NASA Selects Rocket Lab to Launch Sun, Earth Sciences Missions

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Rocket Lab Corporation, a global leader in launch services and space systems, today announced it has been selected by NASA to provide three Electron launches for two separate NASA missions - PolSIR and TSIS-2 – from early next year. Rocket Lab’s extensive flight heritage across more than 90 launches, Electron’s proven deployment accuracy, and the company’s ability to meet the tight turnaround schedules for both missions were key driving factors behind Rocket Lab being selected as the launch provider.

Rocket Lab will fly two back-to-back Electron launches for NASA’s PolSIR mission from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand no earlier than June 2027. A separate Electron launch for NASA’s TSIS-2 mission will take place from the same launch site in early 2027.

PolSIR

Electron will deploy two identical CubeSats for the PolSIR (Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer) mission to study ice clouds at high altitudes in the tropics and sub-tropics: how they form, why they change throughout the day, and how much ice they contain. The data gathered by PolSIR will be used to inform Earth system models to make better predictions about Earth’s weather across the globe.

The PolSIR mission requires both satellites to fly in separate, 52-degree inclination, non-sun synchronous orbits that will allow NASA scientists to make comparisons across daily, seasonal, and annual cycles of ice clouds. Electron’s excellent track record for precise orbital deployment and ability to deliver satellites within meters of their target – versus the industry standard of kilometer-level deployment accuracy - is being leveraged to meet NASA’s unique requirements of this mission.

TSIS-2

NASA’s TSIS-2 (Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2) mission will see a single satellite launched by Electron to conduct Sun-Earth energy science. TSIS-2’s measurements of the Sun’s brightness at the top of Earth’s atmosphere, as well as the distribution of that energy over ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths, can be used by scientists to predict Earth’s ozone layer recovery or provide air quality forecasts: real-life examples of the benefits space science missions like TSIS-2 can have for day-to-day life.

This mission exemplifies Electron’s unique capability and value in providing a reliable and responsive launch service dedicated for small satellites. NASA has booked the mission to launch on Electron in just seven months from contract signing to meet the time-sensitive requirements of the mission.

Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Sir Peter Beck, says: “Electron has become synonymous with reliability, precise orbital accuracy, and on-demand launch capability and we’ve been delivering this for NASA missions for almost a decade. We’re proud to deliver this once again for PolSIR and TSIS-2.”

Alongside PolSIR and TSIS-2, other upcoming NASA missions to be launched by Rocket Lab include the agency’s Aspera mission: an astrophysics mission to study the formation and evolution of galaxies and provide new insights into how the universe works. Later this year, Rocket Lab is also scheduled to deploy its own Photon spacecraft on Electron for NASA’s LOXSAT mission: a demonstration of in-space refueling technologies that could come into play for future Moon missions and human exploration to Mars.