Curie (rocket engine)
Rocket engine / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Curie is a liquid-propellant rocket engine designed and manufactured by Rocket Lab. A bipropellant is used for the propulsion of the third stage/kick stage of the Electron rocket, as well as the Photon.[2] The composition of the propellant is a trade secret.
Quick Facts Country of origin, First flight ...
Country of origin | New Zealand |
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First flight | 21 January 2018 (21 January 2018) |
Designer | Rocket Lab |
Manufacturer | Rocket Lab |
Application | Upper/kick stage |
Status | In production |
Liquid-fuel engine | |
Propellant | Unknown bipropellant |
Configuration | |
Chamber | 1 |
Performance | |
Thrust, vacuum | 120 N (27 lbf) [1] |
Restarts | multiple |
Used in | |
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The kick stage rocket produces 120 newtons (27 lbf) of thrust, and has a specific impulse of approximately 320 seconds.[3]
It was first used on 21 January 2018 during Rocket Lab's first successful orbital rocket launch, and helped to boost two small CubeSats, the weather and ship-tracking Lemur-2 CubeSats built by the company Spire Global, into a circular orbit.