Manufacturer | Rocket Lab |
---|---|
Country of origin | United States |
Applications | Launch service provider |
Specifications | |
Spacecraft type | Satellite bus |
Launch mass | 50 kg (110 lb) |
Payload capacity | 170 kg (370 lb) |
Equipment | S band payloads |
Production | |
Status | Active |
Launched | 4 |
Maiden launch | 31 August 2020 |
Related spacecraft | |
Derived from | Kick Stage |
Photon is a satellite bus based on Rocket Lab's kick stage.[1]
It was designed to be highly customizable to serve a variety of uses including LEO payload hosting,[2] lunar flybys, and interplanetary missions.[3]
Photon uses chemical propulsion for orbit adjustments, utilizing a range of engines such as Rocket Lab's own Curie or HyperCurie, or other third party engines.[4]
Photon first launched in August 2020 on Rocket Lab's I Can't Believe It's Not Optical mission, where it served as a pathfinder, and has since flown three more times. It also flew the CAPSTONE mission.
In an upcoming mission, two Photon satellite buses will be used to observe the Martian magnetosphere.[5] Another Photon will serve as the transfer stage to the joint Rocket Lab-MIT Venus Life Finder atmospheric probe.[6]