Rocket Lab Launches NOAA-Funded Wildlife Tracking Satellite Written 11 October 2022
Rocket Lab Electron rocket launch, January 31, 2020. | Credit: Scott Andrews; Wikipedia; Public Domain
Spaceflight Now reported, “Rocket Lab launched an Electron rocket Friday from its privately-run spaceport in New Zealand, boosting a 260-pound satellite into orbit on a $64 million NOAA-funded mission to relay environmental data from remote weather stations and help track global wildlife movements.” The mission is the latest in a line of Argos environmental data relay satellite launches, and is a partnership between General Atomics, NOAA, and CNES (the French space agency). The mission sent the GAzelle satellite into a polar orbit about 466 miles above Earth, where it is planned to operate for five years.
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)