Blastoff! Electron Rocket Launches DARPA's R3D2

Video from the channel VideoFromSpace about Electron, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 10:41. Language: English. Video type: Launch.

Rocket Lab's broadcast of an Electron launch carrying R3D2, an experimental spacecraft from the US agency DARPA designed to test new space technologies.

After the countdown, the first stage performs normally and passes max-Q. Its nine Rutherford engines then shut down, the stage separates, the vacuum-optimized Rutherford on the second stage ignites, and the payload fairing separates. At about 150 km altitude the rocket is travelling at 3 km/s. The commentators explain that the Rutherford engines' pumps are driven by brushless electric motors powered by lithium polymer batteries. Mid-flight, a hot battery swap takes place: the rocket switches from two depleted batteries to a third, charged one, jettisoning the spent batteries to save weight.

The second stage shuts down and the kick stage separates successfully. About 40 minutes later, its Curie engine was to circularize the orbit at 425 km and release R3D2. Since there was no video of that phase, the broadcast shows an animation of the deployment. The commentators note that, thanks to its cold-gas thrusters, the kick stage can precisely orient the payload before releasing it. The broadcast ends with a thank-you to DARPA.