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Rocket Lab
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=== Electron strong flight heritage === Diving into more detail, Rocket Lab designed Electron for manufacturability and reliability, understanding that customers would pay up for a dedicated small rocket launch (>$25k per kg vs. ride-share SpaceX Falcon 9's $5k). Electron is a two-stage vehicle with third kick stage standing at 18m tall with a diameter of 1.2m. The design involves use of advanced carbon composite material for the entire structure and propellant tanks, reducing wait by up to 40%. The kick stage allows for satellites to be placed in a circular orbit after launch, which enables them to maintain a consistent altitude and is also capable of engine restarts to deliver multiple payloads to a range of orbits, and also deorbiting to avoid becoming space junk. Also unique to Electron, the company believes it created the world's first 3D printed and electric pump-fed engine. The rocket uses 10 Rutherford engines (9 in the first stage, 1 single vacuum in the second stage) that make use of electric motors and high-performance lithium polymer batteries to drive liquid oxygen and kerosene fuel pumps. Electric pumps are simpler than traditional gas generator cycles yet still achieve high efficiency. Operationally, Electron takes off from the company's private launch complex in Mahia, New Zealand (referred to as Launch Complex 1 or LC1). Typically, US government missions cannot be launched abroad but the two countries signed a bilateral treaty to drop this restriction. LC1 is also the first private FAA-licensed orbital launch site. '''Figure 13: Electron design'''<ref name=":0">Source: Company reports.</ref> [[File:20210924 Deutsche Bank RKLB Rocket Lab- The Gatekeepers of Space- Initiating with Bu Page 12 Image 0001.jpg]] {| class="wikitable" |+'''Figure 14: Small rocket comparison<ref>Source: Company reports, Deutsche Bank.</ref>''' !Company !Rocket Lab !Virgin Orbit !Astra |- !Rocket !Electron !Launcherone !3.3 |- |Height (m) |18 |21 |17 |- |Diameter |1.2 |1.8 |1.3 |- |Payload to LEO (kg) |300 |500 |50 |- |Engine |9x Rutherford/single vacuum |Newton3+4 |5x Delphin/single ether |- |Price |$6-13m |$12m |<$4m |- |per kg |26,667 |24,000 |75,000 |- |Reuseable |Yes |No |No |- |Structure |Carbon composite |Carbon composite |Metal |- |Sites |Mahia, NZ |Mounted to 747 jet |Kodiak, AK |- |Launches |21 |2 |2 |- |Satellites deployed |105 |7 |0 |- |Own satellites |2 |0 |0 |}
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