Rocket assembly pics and PI radio interview

22 May 2024 | Tim Michaels

READY, AIM, PREFIRE — The official patch of the 48th Rocket Lab launch, *Ready, Aim, PREFIRE*. It depicts an Electron rocket launch, an Arctic fox on a chunk of polar ice, and a starry sky.
Credit: Rocket Lab

A highlight for today is Radio New Zealand’s short interview with Tristan L’Ecuyer, the PREFIRE Principal Investigator (PI).

Courtesy of Rocket Lab, we have some photos to share of the PREFIRE CubeSats being carefully attached to their Electron rockets (about 1 week ago): Link: Rocket Lab’s PREFIRE Flickr album.

You can see:

The various Electron rocket segments, which will be stacked to create a full rocket on the launch pad
The payload fairing (nosecone) that each CubeSat is nestled inside at launch
Shiny metallic objects the size of a large shoebox, pictured on a table and attached to a metal bracket
- a CubeSat is tucked inside each of these!
- these are dispenser canisters, which contain a mechanism to carefully fling the CubeSat away from the rocket at the appropriate time (keeping the satellite from colliding with the rocket)
The official patch of the 48th Rocket Lab launch, Ready, Aim, PREFIRE. It depicts an Electron rocket launch, an Arctic fox on a chunk of polar ice, and a starry sky.

This work is supported by NASA.