American space company Rocket Lab launched a new type of satellites for the US Space Force. Space.com writes about this, reports UNN.
Details
Early Thursday morning, Rocket Lab launched a new type of satellite for the U.S. Space Force. An Electron rocket carrying four "DiskSat" satellites lifted off from Rocket Lab's Wallops Island, Virginia, launch site on Thursday at 12:03 a.m. EDT (05:03 GMT).
The launch, which Rocket Lab dubbed "Don't Be Such a Square," initiated the Space Test Program (STP)-S30 mission for the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command.
STP-30 will utilize the world's first DiskSat, a new type of spacecraft developed by the Aerospace Corporation with funding from NASA. Each DiskSat is approximately the size of a manhole cover, measuring 40 inches wide and only 1 inch thick (102 by 2.5 centimeters).
This strange shape could lead to better performance on the final frontier for small satellites, which have traditionally used the square "CubeSat" form factor.
Recall
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator under President Donald Trump, making the proponent of Mars missions and former associate of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk the 15th head of the space agency.