Rocket Lab launched its first orbital mission of 2025 on Sunday morning local time.
The company’s 59th Electron rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 1, Pad A, at the company’s launch site in Mahia, New Zealand on the ‘IoT 4 You and Me’ mission at 9:43 a.m. NZDT on Feb. 9 (3:43 p.m. EST, 2043 UTC on Feb. 8).
The company was originally targeting a launch on Feb. 4, but had to stand down do to a Collision On Launch Avoidance/Assessment (COLA) connected to the International Space Station.
Onboard the Electron rocket were five satellites for the French Internet of Things (IoT) company, Kinéis. This was the fourth out of five dedicated launches for the company to complete its constellation of 25 satellites.
Each satellite is 1.4 x 1.6 m (4.6 x 5.2 ft) in size and head into a circular orbit at 646 km (401 mi) at a 97 degrees inclination. The satellites are spread over five orbital planes with five satellites in each plane.
“Moving at a speed of 7.8 km per second, our satellites are equipped with electric propulsion systems powered by solar panels, keeping them in orbit and avoiding collisions,” Kinéis wrote on its website. “This concentration of expertise and innovation enables us to ensure 80 satellite passes every day over every point on the globe, guaranteeing continuous data transmission.”
