Rocket Lab Newsletter, November 2009

Hello,

Rocket Lab is counting down to launch the Ātea-1 rocket Monday, November 30th from Great Mercury Island (weather permitting). From the beginning of 2008, to April this year, Rocket Lab was working on a number of industry contracts, however for the last six months the company's primary focus has been the development of the Ātea-1 launch vehicle. Ātea-1 showcases Rocket Lab's innovative capabilities in developing rocket engines, launch vehicles and associated subsystems. .

Visit our Trade Me auction by 8pm Sunday, November 22nd (NZ time) if you'd like to launch a payload to space and attend Ātea-1's maiden launch. Follow the launch countdown on Twitter.

In this newsletter we provide an update on the progress of the Ātea-1 sub-orbital vehicle and take a look at Rocket Lab's High Temperature Ablative Coating product

Ātea-1 Launch Vehicle

Rocket Lab completed four months of ground-based testing at Air New Zealand Gas Turbine’s engine test cell on October 8th 2009. The four month testing programme at the Auckland engineering base, allowed Rocket Lab to rigorously test the Ātea -1 and custom developed components such as the rocket nozzle and combustion chamber. The mass efficient Ātea-1 utilises high performance lightweight carbon fibre composites and uses a polymer based fuel with liquid Nitrous Oxide. The hybrid engine is capable of producing a peak thrust of 1,550 lbf for up to 14.5s, resulting in a total impulse of approximately 22,500 lbf-s and a terminal velocity of Mach 5.

Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck explains the benefits of the unique fuel formulation that has taken two years to develop.

“The fuel is polymer based and suspended in a solid form. It has minimal environmental impact, requires only basic handling safeguards and is low cost. This means we’ll be able to launch more frequently and means there will be more potential launch sites.”

The first space launch is scheduled to take place at the week starting Monday, November 30th from Great Mercury Island, 18 kilometres east of the Coromandel Peninsula. Unfortunately we only have limited places on the island for guests, however we expect to have extensive footage of the events available for interested parties to view post launch.

This first high altitude launch for Ātea-1 has attracted significant international and national interest from payload clients. After a successful launch program for Ātea-1, Rocket Lab anticipates further interest in the larger Ātea-2 rocket, which is capable of carrying payloads of up to 70 kilograms.

Avionics Flight Testing

On Sunday, November 1st the final flight qualification test was completed on the avionics package. The avionics package includes 3 axis accelerometers, 3 axis gyroscopes, 3 axis magnometer, full satellite telemetry and GPS. Analogue sampling of temperature and other critical parameters was also onboard. The flight vehicle was purposely put into a complex flight profile including spin and pitch oscillations. The avionics package was able to resolve all of these complicated motions and make the correct decisions, resulting in a successful recovery of the test flight vehicle. The flight avionics are currently being integrated into the flight vehicle.

Featured Product: High Temperature Ablative Coating

The extreme temperature conditions achieved by the development of the Ātea launch vehicles has brought about considerable technical challenges due to the aerodynamic heating of the composite vehicle fuselage. These intensive and demanding projects have fostered the development of new products for high temperature environments.

Hi-Tac is a specialist coating developed for the aerospace industry, however it also has a wide range of industrial uses. The lightweight coating can be used as a thermal protection system in conditions of ongoing high temperatures. Hi-Tac can also be used as an ablative liner for applications that reach temperatures of up to 2,000°C.

The coating is an excellent thermal barrier due to its low thermal conductivity and extreme heat capacity. Hi-Tac’s two-part system can be easily mixed, poured and sprayed to create a firm and flexible coating. A primer coating can be used to create a good metal and composite adhesive. View the Hi-Tac Web page for further information.

Web Site Update

Visit the Rocket Lab Web site to see our new range of t-shirts available. We’ve recently updated a lot of content on the Rocket Lab Web site, so we suggest you jump online and take a look: www.rocketlab.co.nz

Best Regards,

The Rocket Lab Team