Rocket Lab “On Closer Inspection” Launch

Rocket Lab plan to launch an Electron rocket carrying the Astroscale Japan Inc. ADRAS-J (Active Debris Removal by Astro Scale Japan) orbital debris removal satellite to a ~564.6 km x ~629.4 km Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at 98.2° inclination on 2024-02-18 at 14:52 UTC. The launch will be from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex-1B on the Māhia Peninsula of New Zealand. This will be the 44th overall launch of the Electron rocket and the second of 2024. Payload mass is ~150 kg. The satellite will rendezvous with an H-2A upper stage launched in 2009.

Rocket Lab will not recover the first stage booster from the Pacific Ocean.

Here is a pre-flight preview from Everyday Astronaut .

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