When Rocket Lab blasted off
into space recently it had a
special piece of cargo kit on
board; the Humanity Star. And
although geared to symbolise
humanities great potential, us
Kiwis can also look skyward to
recognise the great Kiwi engineering
achievement that Rocket
Lab founder and ceo Peter
Beck and his team has made
– just putting it into space.
It is a geodesic sphere made
from carbon fibre with 76
highly reflective panels. It spins
rapidly, reflecting the sun’s
rays back to Earth, creating a
flashing light that can be seen
against a backdrop of stars.
Humanity Star orbits the Earth
every 90 minutes and is visible
from anywhere on the globe -
designed to be a bright symbol
and reminder to all on Earth
about our fragile place in the
universe.
Launched January 21 this year,
it is one metre high (3.2 ft),
and weighs 10.34 kg (22.7
lbs) and will orbit for about nine
months before its orbit starts
to decay and it is pulled back
into the Earth’s gravity where
it burns up on re-entry leaving
no trace in space or on Earth
(no Tesla space junk from us
Kiwis!).
Beck says: “Humanity is finite,
and we won't be here forever.
Yet in the face of this almost
inconceivable insignificance,
humanity is capable of great and
kind things when we recognise
we are one species, responsible
for the care of each other, and
our planet, together. The Humanity
Star is to remind us of this.”
As the industry gathers for
EMEX 2018, we at Engineering
News thought what better time
to reflect on great Kiwi achievements.