The owl spreads Its wings

Within an era of a New Knowledge Society, assumptions abound regarding the ‘goodness’ and justice of global interconnections and distributions of knowledge through international educational organizations and structures worldwide. Just as George Bush Jr. in attempting to justify the invasion of Iraq made claim to the democratic goodness of the US ‘spreading their freedoms’ in the interests of an all-encompassing democratization of the world, so the assumption that sharing educational knowledge, especially an ‘all-knowing North’ with a ‘helpless South’ is without question for the greater good of all humanity.

A 14-day launch window opens no earlier than 14 September UTC.
A launch is possible within this time band for each day of the launch window.

M i ss i o n OVE RVI E W
About 'The owl spreads its wings' The two previous missions for Synspective -"The Owl's Night Begins" in December 2020 and "The Owl's Night Continues" in February 2022 -carried their StriX-series satellites. These Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites can gather high resolution Earth observation data regardless of conditions or daylight, offering a resilient and effective resource for the purposes of urban development, infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response.
As with all the StriX satellites Rocket Lab has launched for Synspective, Electron's payload fairing was custom designed with small domes to allow for the size of the satellite.
Rocket Lab will not attempt to recover Electron for this mission.
"The Owl Spreads Its Wings" is a landmark mission for Rocket Lab -the third for repeat customer Synspective, on the 30th Electron flight, carrying the 300th Rutherford engine and 150th satellite flown to space.

LAUNCH COMPLEX 1
MAHIA, NEW ZEALAND "The Owl Spreads Its Wings" is the second mission in a three-launch contract from Synspective, following on from "The Owl's Night Continues" earlier this year, which likewise made another first as the inaugural launch from the new Pad B at Launch Complex 1.

on the up & up mission milestones with Electron
It's been just over five years since Rocket Lab launched Electron to orbit for the first time -and we've gone on to celebrate many firsts since then.

5 0th sat e lli t e
Over those 30 launches, Rocket Lab has successfully delivered dozens of satellites to orbit and, more recently, to the wider solar system. The satellites we've launched to date include Earth observation and weather monitoring, support for the Covid-19 response and disaster relief, connectivity and better management of air traffic and public safety, science and research, national security, and more. With a vision to make launch as straightforward as Earth-based logistics, the delivery of the 150th satellite by Electron is a key metric in establishing this consistency of service.
3 00th R uth e r fo r d e n g i n e Each Electron vehicle carries 11 engines across three stages -9 sea-level Rutherford Engines on the first stage, 1 space-optimised Rutherford Engine on the second stage, and the smaller Curie engine on the Kick Stage that circularises the orbit needed to deliver its payload to a very precise location in space.
With the celebration of Electron's 30th launch, we also celebrate the 300th Rutherford Engine that will fly past the Karman line into space -yet another measure of the reliability and success of the Electron launch program.
With the first recovered Rutherford Engine successfully passing its first hot-fire test in recent days, and Rocket Lab's Neutron program well into development, Electron has set the standard for resilient, agile launch capability. Images and footage of "The Owl Spreads Its Wings" launch will be available shortly after a successful mission at:

www.rocketlabusa.com/about-us/ updates/link-to-rocket-lab-imageryand-video
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