Rocket Lab has put into orbit a South Korean Earth observation satellite and the new solar sail from NASA. The secondary payload, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), was launched along with the main satellite, NEONSAT-1, on board a Rocket Lab Electron rocket as part of a dual spaceflight.
A solar sail harnesses the sunlight to propel spacecraft in space, offering an efficient propulsion strategy without the need for fuel. The ACS3 mission by NASA aims to develop this technology, testing the deployment of new composite booms to deploy a solar sail approximately 9 meters per side this time.
The main objective of the ACS3 launch was to collect flight data to develop future composite material solar sail systems on a larger scale, used in early warning satellite missions for space weather, asteroid reconnaissance missions, and observation of polar regions of the Sun.
NEONSAT-1, the main passenger of the mission, is an Earth observation satellite developed by South Korea that will use artificial intelligence technology to monitor natural disasters along the Korean coast.
The launch, called “Beginning of the Swarm”, placed NEONSAT-1 in a 520-kilometer orbit above Earth and ACS3 at an altitude of 1,000 km, as planned. This event marked Rocket Lab’s fifth orbital launch in 2024 and the 47th overall. Most of Rocket Lab’s launches have been from its headquarters in New Zealand, while some have taken place from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Rocket Lab is also working on making the first stage of the Electron reusable (18 meters tall), having recovered boosters from the sea in previous missions. However, no recovery activities were carried out on this occasion.
