Rocket Lab USA Inc. is going to the moon.
The Long Beach, California-based aerospace company said it will launch NASA’s CAPSTONE mission to the moon from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand in the fourth quarter.
The mission had been slated to lift off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on NASA’s Wallops Island, Virginia, but was rerouted to Launch Complex 1 to stay on schedule for a Q4 launch window.
Rocket Lab will use its Electron rocket and Photon spacecraft to launch the 55-pound Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) cubesat to test a unique elliptical lunar orbit for Artemis, the NASA program that aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon and establish a long-term presence there.
“Our team is immensely proud to be launching one of the first pathfinding missions to support NASA’s goal of delivering a sustainable and robust presence on the moon,” said Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck in a statement. “We’ve teamed up with the NASA Launch Services Program on previous Electron missions to low Earth orbit, so it’s exciting to be working with them again to go just a bit further than usual … some 380,000 km further.”
The announcement follows news that Rocket Lab has also been awarded a NASA contract to design two Photon spacecraft for a scientific mission to Mars.
Rocket Lab resumed rocket launches last week after experiencing an anomaly during its 20th mission on May 15 that resulted in the loss of its payload.
Here’s what else Los Angeles-area tech companies got up to this week:
- L.A.-based Modern Animal Inc. has raised $75.5 million over the past year to reimagine the veterinary experience for both pet owners and veterinary professionals, including a $35.5 million Series A led by True Ventures and Addition, and a $40 million Series B led by Founders Fund.
- Plant Prefab, the Rialto-based prefabricated custom home builder dedicated to sustainable design, materials and operations, has raised a $30 million in financing.
- Hollywood’s Ryff Inc. has secured $11.7 million led by Audent Global Asset Management to use artificial intelligence to insert product placement into fully mastered and edited content, including library content on OTT.
- El Segundo digital marketing agency Wpromote Inc. has acquired Visiture, an ecommerce agency based in the Southeast, for an undisclosed amount.
- Five months after leaving Heal Inc., Nick Desai and Dr. Renee Dua have a new idea with $3.8 million in seed funding led by Quiet Capital — read our interview with Desai about HeyRenee.
- Los Angeles-based Elude has launched its mobile app to help new travelers explore destinations they can afford but previously might not have known existed with $2.1 million in funding.
- ThoughtWorld Inc., an Irvine-based market research and social media platform, has closed a $2 million angel investor round, bringing its valuation to $10 million.
