Rocket Lab launches mystery satellite for ‘confidential commercial customer’

Rocket Lab launched a mystery satellite for a secretive private customer this evening (March 5).

An Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab‘s New Zealand site today at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT; 12:53 p.m. on March 6 local time), kicking off a mission the company calls “Insight at Speed is a Friend Indeed.”

Rocket Lab announced the planned launch just a few hours before liftoff and provided few details, saying that it’s “for a confidential commercial customer.”

We do know that the mission is lofting a single satellite, and that the target deployment orbit lies 292 miles (470 kilometers) above Earth. Rocket Lab ended the launch webcast before that milestone, however, at the request of the unnamed customer.

Some observers are speculating that this customer may be the Virginia company BlackSky, which operates a constellation of sharp-eyed Earth-observation satellites.

Rocket Lab has flown many missions for BlackSky to date and recently has been helping the company build out its new “Gen-3” constellation in low Earth orbit.

Today’s launch was the 76th to date for the 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) Electron, which gives small satellites dedicated rides to orbit.

Rocket Lab has also flown seven missions with HASTE, a suborbital version of Electron designed to help customers test hypersonic technologies, bringing the company’s overall liftoff tally to 83.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 7:10 p.m. ET on March 5 with news of successful launch.