Photon is a satellite bus based on Rocket Lab's kick stage.[1]
Location of Photon on the Electron rocket
It was designed to be highly customizable to serve a variety of uses including LEO payload hosting,[2] lunar flybys, and interplanetary missions.[3]
Photon uses chemical propulsion for orbit adjustments, utilizing a range of engines such as Rocket Lab's own Curie or HyperCurie, or other third party engines.[4]
Photon first launched in August 2020 on Rocket Lab's I Can't Believe It's Not Optical mission, where it served as a pathfinder, and has since flown three more times. It also flew the CAPSTONE mission.
In an upcoming mission, two Photon satellite buses will be used to observe the Martian magnetosphere.[5] Another Photon will serve as the transfer stage to the joint Rocket Lab-MIT Venus Life Finder atmospheric probe.[6]
^Foust, Jeff (8 April 2019). "Rocket Lab unveils Photon smallsat bus". SpaceNews. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
^"Varda Space Industries". Rocket Lab. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
^"Photon". Rocket Lab. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
^73 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) (18 September 20022), ESCAPADE: A Low-Cost Formation at Mars, Retrieved 21 October 2023
^"Misson To Mars - Escapade". Rocket Lab. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
^"Rocket Lab Probe". Venus Cloud Life - MIT. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
Photon is a satellite bus based on RocketLab's kick stage. It was designed to be highly customizable to serve a variety of uses including LEO payload...
RocketLab USA, Inc. is a publicly traded aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider that operates and launches lightweight Electron orbital rockets...
orbital-class rocket. Electron is often flown with a kickstage or RocketLab'sPhoton spacecraft. Although the rocket was designed to be expendable, RocketLab has...
developed by RocketLab in collaboration with a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The spacecraft will consist of a Photon Explorer cruise...
of <550 kg. The spacecraft bus is originally adapted from the RocketLab Explorer (Photon) third stage and is approximately 60 x 70 x 90 cm. The spacecraft...
aboard Electron and RocketLab's spacecraft bus platform Photon in 2022. Electron launched for the first time in May 2017, but the rocket was destroyed by...
of RocketLab, an aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider. Before founding RocketLab, Beck worked in various occupations and built rocket-powered...
Neutron is a medium-lift two-stage launch vehicle under development by RocketLab. Announced on 1 March 2021, the vehicle is being designed to be capable...
related to space robotics, proximity operations etc. RM-81 Agena RocketLabPhoton Comparison of satellite buses "Payloads". www.isro.gov.in. Archived...
possibility RocketLab has a different naming scheme, and the boosters could have different serial numbers compared to what launch they flew. The Photon kick-stage...
launched on 28 June 2022. After separating from the second stage, the RocketLab'sPhoton kick stage lifted the orbital apogee into a lunar-transfer orbit...
May 2022. 13 June 2020, Photon Pathfinder, The Photon Pathfinder is the same space object as the Electron Kick Stage Rocket Body, essentially extending...
Solar sails (also known as lightsails, light sails, and photon sails) are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight...
various orbits to deploy the various payloads. The Photon is a satellite bus designed by RocketLab that is a major enhancement to the Kick Stage. It is...
aerospace company RocketLab, who licensed the design in 2021 for commercial use. Currently, the Frontier-S has flown on RocketLab'sPhoton Pathstone spacecraft...
electron production: For photons at high-energy (MeV scale and higher), photon–photon collisions can efficiently convert the photon energy into matter in...
Energy for Rocket Vehicle Applications), a US nuclear thermal rocket programme Photonrocket Project Prometheus, NASA development of nuclear propulsion for...
panels. The tuning of the laser wavelength of 0.840 micrometres (1.48 eV per photon) and the photovoltaic panel bandgap of 1.43 eV to each other produces an...
p. 82. ISBN 978-1-4214-3984-6. Denny, Mark (2019). Rocket science: from fireworks to the photon drive. Cham, Switzerland. p. 37. ISBN 978-3-030-28080-2...
Space Industries announced it had signed a contract with RocketLab to acquire three Photon satellite buses, with an option to purchase a fourth, to carry...
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