“NASA and Rocket Lab Reschedule Hurricane Monitoring Rocket Launch for Tropics Constellation”

JAKARTA – The United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Rocket Lab rescheduled the launch of two CubeSats, Monday 8 May 2023.

Reporting from the NASA website, initially the launch was planned to take place yesterday. However, due to New Zealand’s weather conditions which made it impossible, the launch was postponed to May 7 or Monday, May 8 New Zealand time.

“After the previous target launch date changed, due to weather conditions in New Zealand, NASA and Rocket Lab are now targeting 9 p.m. EDT Sunday, May 7, (1 p.m. Monday, May 8, New Zealand standard time), to launch two CubeSats tracking the storm to orbit,” said the page, quoted on Sunday (7/5/2023).

Agency Tropics (timed observations of precipitation structure and storm intensity by constellation from Smallsats) has a two-hour launch window from launch complex 1 pad B at Mahia, New Zealand.

Rocket Lab will provide live coverage, starting about 20 minutes before launch. Coverage will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, the agency’s website, and the Rocket Lab website.

“The second launch from Rocket Lab will carry two additional CubeSats, with the exact launch time depending on the date and time of the first launch.”

The Tropics is a constellation of four identical cubes designed to observe tropical cyclones from low-earth orbit, making observations more frequently than any current weather-tracking satellite. Collecting data more frequently can help scientists improve weather forecasting models.

Tropics will study tropical cyclones as part of NASA’s earth effort class mission, which selects targeted science missions to fill gaps in a thorough understanding of the entire Earth system.

(san)