Overview
- Rocket Lab’s Electron lifted off from Wallops Island at 12:03 a.m. EST on Dec. 18, deploying four DiskSats for the STP-S30 mission.
- All spacecraft were released into a circular 550 km orbit in a roughly 10-minute sequence and are now under Space Systems Command management after initial contacts were established.
- Mission operations call for two DiskSats to remain at 550 km while two descend to very low Earth orbit to evaluate sustained flight, drag behavior, and platform performance.
- Each DiskSat is about 1 meter wide and 2.5 centimeters thick with electric propulsion, offering far more surface area than CubeSats and a reported 5–10× power advantage for higher-demand payloads.
- NASA funded development, the U.S. Space Force funded launch and in-orbit ops via RSLP and STP, The Aerospace Corporation led the design, and the team plans industry transfer following flight validation.