Communication security

This DARPA satellite will be designed, built and launched in 18 months

New Zealand-based space company Rocket Lab said it plans to launch a satellite for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) next month from the company’s main launch complex at the Mahia peninsula.

Rocket Lab operates out of the world’s first privately owned launch facility in New Zealand and has a second launch site at Wallops Island on the eastern shore of Virginia.

The launch will mark Rocket Lab’s first mission this year and will use a 56 foot (17 meters) Electron rocket to place DARPA’s Radio Frequency Risk Reduction Deployment Demonstration (R3D2) payload into orbit in late February.

The R3D2 prototype array, packed inside a 330lb (150kg) satellite, includes a tissue-thin Kapton membrane antenna designed to expand to a size of 7.4 feet (2.25 meters) once in orbit. DARPA said the antenna could help provide high data rate communications to disadvantaged users on the ground. The agency said the satellite design, development, and launch took approximately 18 months.

“The Department of Defense has prioritized rapid acquisition of small satellite and launch capabilities. By relying on commercial acquisition practices, DARPA streamlined the R3D2 mission from conception through launch services acquisition,” Fred Kennedy, director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, said in a Jan. 22 release.