Rocket Lab completes hurricane hunting constellation for NASA

Late Thursday night, an Electron rocket lifted off from LC-1A at Rocket Lab’s private spaceport in New Zealand. On top were the final two TROPICS CubeSats of NASA’s new hurricane hunting constellation.

As we have come to expect from Rocket Lab New Zealand launches, the Electron lifted off with perfect weather and with zero issues with the rocket.

This mission completed the NASA constellation that will change the way (hopefully) meteorologist forecast hurricanes. The Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats, or TROPICS, is a constellation of four CubeSats (same word for smallsats). These four satellites orbit the early near the equator and will provide a constant watch over developing storms across the globe.

If you live in an area prone to frequent visits from these storms, like the Gulf of Mexico, the East Coast of the US, Japan, or the Pacific Ocean, you know the hassle it can be to prepare for these storms. While forecasts can show the potential landfall locations a week ahead of time, you won’t see any track with great certainty until days before landfall. Even then, hurricanes can act unpredictably, shifting left or right of the track and hovering over a location for long periods of time.

More data is king when it comes to forecasting these storms, and more timely measurements will do nothing but help make these models more accurate.

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Six years of Electron launches

In a lineup that only comes around on very rare occurrences, the third TROPICS launch took place on the sixth anniversary of the first-ever launch of Electron. While this first mission failed to make orbit, it achieved many firsts and proved the capability of the design.

Thursday was Rocket Lab’s 37th Electron ever launch and fifth for the year. 2023 has the ability to be the best year yet for the dedicated SmallSat launcher, with up to 15 Electron’s being launched by the end of the year.

While SpaceX dominates the larger rocket game, Rocket Lab is settling in as the top dog in its own way.