How Rocket Lab succeeded against the odds

Peter Beck. (Image: Getty)

Thu, 11 May 2023

Two Nasa TROPICS satellites fired into space from the Mahia Peninsula this week are now orbiting the globe and will gather information on natural phenomena of increasing interest to us – tropical cyclones. The success of the “Rocket Like A Hurricane” mission will be particularly pleasing for Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck and his engineers, given that a US competitor, Astra, last year failed in its quest to put NASA cubesats into orbit as part of the same mission.Despite the flurry of activity in rocket development for sat...

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