Rocket Lab launches US Space Force experimental satellite

Rocket Lab successfully launched an experimental satellite for the United States Space Force on Thursday morning.

Rocket Lab successfully launched an experimental satellite for the United States Space Force on Thursday morning. The California-based aerospace company returned its Electron rocket to flight from its space launch facility on New Zealand's Mahia peninsula. About an hour after a successful liftoff at 2 a.m. ET, the rocket deployed a small research and development satellite, called Monolith, into a 600-kilometer low-Earth orbit. Monolith, sponsored by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, will "explore and demonstrate the use of a deployable sensor, where the sensor's mass is a substantial fraction of the total mass of the spacecraft, changing the spacecraft’s dynamic properties and testing ability to maintain spacecraft attitude control," according to Rocket Lab.