The cure to all disease is ______ - sh.itjust.works
::: spoiler Article text Sandra Erwin 5–6 minutes WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab
launched a spacecraft for the U.S. Space Force to begin a military exercise
focused on rapidly identifying and characterizing potential threats in space.
The company on June 19 launched the Victus Haze spacecraft, known as “Victus
Haze Puma,” aboard an Electron rocket from the company’s launch site in Mahia,
New Zealand. The satellite was developed under a $32 million contract awarded by
the Space Force in 2024 and is one of two spacecraft participating in the Victus
Haze mission. The spacecraft was placed into a sun-synchronous orbit and will
now undergo commissioning before beginning rendezvous and proximity operations,
or RPO, with a spacecraft operated by Colorado-based startup True Anomaly. “With
launch complete, the team will now complete on-orbit checkout and vehicle
commissioning, after which RPO operations begin,” Space Systems Command said in
a June 22 statement. “During these operations, the teams operating both the
Rocket Lab and the True Anomaly space vehicles will conduct a variety of
scenarios, demonstrating space domain Awareness and characterization
capabilities, each in dynamic engagements with the other.” Victus Haze is the
fourth demonstration under the Space Force’s Tactically Responsive Space, or
TacRS, program, which seeks to prove that commercial providers can rapidly
launch spacecraft on military timelines while also performing increasingly
sophisticated missions once in orbit. The exercise builds on lessons from the
2023 Victus Nox demonstration, when the Space Force and launch provider Firefly
Aerospace launched a satellite within 27 hours of receiving a launch order.
While Victus Nox focused primarily on rapid launch, Victus Haze expands the
concept to include the ability to quickly deploy spacecraft capable of
maneuvering, inspecting and characterizing objects in orbit. The broader goal is
to transform responsive launch from a demonstration effort into an operational
military capability. Space Force officials have argued that future conflicts may
require the rapid replacement of damaged satellites, deployment of new sensors
or launch of spacecraft to investigate suspicious activity in orbit on timelines
measured in days rather than months or years. Under the Victus Haze
architecture, the Space Force selected Rocket Lab and True Anomaly to provide
separate maneuvering spacecraft that would conduct rendezvous and proximity
operations after launch. The Rocket Lab spacecraft is expected to conduct
operations with Jackal-004, a True Anomaly spacecraft already in orbit, rather
than waiting for a dedicated Victus Haze vehicle that had been expected to
launch separately on a Firefly Aerospace rocket. Jackal launched May 3 aboard a
SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission carrying South Korea’s CAS500-2 Earth
observation satellite. The spacecraft will maneuver and interact with Rocket
Lab’s vehicle with during the demonstration. True Anomaly received a $30 million
contract for Victus Haze. Prior to the Rocket Lab launch, the Space Force’s
Space Safari program office directed the company to a “heightened readiness
posture” before activating the team into alert status. Rocket Lab highlighted
several milestones achieved during the exercise. After receiving the formal
notice-to-launch order from the Space Force’s Space Safari program office,
Rocket Lab launched its Electron rocket within 16 hours and 42 minutes, beating
the mission’s 24-hour responsive launch requirement. The company’s guidance,
navigation and control team took roughly four hours to calculate a final
trajectory to a previously undisclosed orbit, update flight software and
coordinate ground stations ahead of launch. Once in orbit, Rocket Lab completed
commissioning of its spacecraft in 37 hours and 36 minutes, allowing it to begin
orbital maneuvers more than 34 hours ahead of Victus Haze’s 72-hour operational
deadline. “Victus Haze set out to demonstrate our ability to respond to
irresponsible behavior on orbit under operationally realistic conditions, and we
are doing just that, leveraging commercial partnerships to maximize flexibility
and minimize cost,” said Col. Bryon McClain, acting Space Force portfolio
acquisition executive for Space Combat Power. True Anomaly said in a statement
that Jackal is “fully operational and ready to execute rendezvous and proximity
operations.” :::
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