Rocket Lab announced the Photon satellite bus in April 2019.
Rocket Lab did not disclose plans in advance to test Photon on the 2020-08-30 launch.
Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck discussed a privately funded small spacecraft mission to Venus planned for 2023 that would launch on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket and use a version of the Photon satellite bus.
Eta Space received a $27,000,000 award to fly LOXSAT 1, a small satellite to test liquid oxygen storage technologies, and is working with Rocket Lab to use the Photon satellite bus and launch LOXSAT 1 on an Electron rocket.
In 2021, Rocket Lab will use Electron and Photon to launch a satellite to lunar orbit for NASA as a precursor for the Gateway lunar-orbiting outpost that is part of NASA’s Artemis program.
Rocket Lab is developing a smallsat bus called Photon that is designed to be launched with the Electron rocket.
Rocket Lab raised nearly $300,000,000 in venture capital to develop the Electron small launch vehicle and the Photon satellite bus.
Varda Space purchased three Photon satellite buses from Rocket Lab in August 2022 but did not choose Rocket Lab’s Electron for the initial launch.
Rocket Lab will begin payload integration of CAPSTONE with the Electron rocket and Photon spacecraft bus ahead of the launch window opening on 2022-05-31.
Rocket Lab is supplying Photon spacecraft buses for the twin ESCAPADE spacecraft and committed to adhere to the mission’s $55,000,000 cost cap.
Rocket Lab selected Photon as an interplanetary spacecraft platform for multiple missions, including the ESCAPADE mission to Mars in 2024 and a private mission to Venus.
Rocket Lab began manufacturing Photon small satellites in Huntington Beach, California in 2019.
EscaPADE redesigned its mission to use Photon satellite buses from Rocket Lab and could launch as soon as 2024.
Rocket Lab developed and launched a high-energy variant of Photon in 2022 that deployed the CAPSTONE spacecraft to lunar orbit for NASA.
The Rocket Lab-designed and built Photon spacecraft will provide power, communications, propulsion, and attitude control to Varda’s 120 kg capsule.
A high-energy variant of Photon was developed and launched by Rocket Lab in 2022 and successfully deployed the CAPSTONE spacecraft to lunar orbit for NASA.
A high-energy variant of Rocket Lab’s Photon was developed and launched in 2022 and successfully deployed the CAPSTONE spacecraft to lunar orbit for NASA.
The Rocket Lab-designed and built Photon spacecraft will provide power, communications, propulsion, and attitude control to Varda’s 120 kg capsule that will produce pharmaceutical products in microgravity and return them to Earth.
ESCAPADE is designed and manufactured by Rocket Lab based on its Photon satellite bus.