NASA/ROCKET LAB MEDIA TELECON ON UPCOMING TROPICS LAUNCHES, Apr 28, 2023, virtual, 4:00 pm ET

NASA and Rocket Lab will hold a media telecon on April 28, 2023 at 4:00 pm ET to preview the launch of NASA TROPICS satellites.  The telecon will be livestreamed on NASA Live.

Two Rocket Lab Electron rockets will launch two satellites each from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

The first launch is scheduled for April 30, 2023 at 9:00 pm EDT (May 1, 1:00 pm local time at the launch site). The launch window is two hours long.  The second launch is targeted for May 16 EDT, but the exact date and time are contingent on when the first set launches.

TROPICS stands for Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats. Originally a set of six small satellites – two in each of three planes — TROPICS  will observe tropical cyclones from low Earth orbit, making observations more frequently than existing satellites. The first two were lost in a launch failure by a new launch vehicle company, Astra, in June 2022. NASA shifted the remaining four to Rocket Lab, which has a well established launch record. Now there will be two satellites in each of two planes to provide roughly hourly observations of a storm’s precipitation, temperature, and humidity, which will aid in forecasting.

Participants in the briefing are:

• Dr. Will McCarty, program scientist, NASA Earth Science Division
• Ben Kim, program executive, NASA Earth Science Division
• Dr. William Blackwell, TROPICS principal investigator, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
• Bradley Smith, Director, Launch Services for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate
• Peter Beck, Rocket Lab founder and CEO