WASHINGTON — A Rocket Lab Electron launched a commercial payload Nov. 5 on a flight wrapped in as much secrecy as a classified government mission.
The Electron lifted off from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 5:54 a.m. Eastern. The kick stage carrying the payload for the mission separated from the upper stage nine minutes after liftoff, at which point Rocket Lab ended its coverage of the mission. Rocket Lab reported payload deployment and “100% mission success,” in the words of Chief Executive Peter Beck, nearly an hour after liftoff.
Rocket Lab announced Oct. 16 that it added the mission, which it called “Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes” to its launch manifest on short notice for what it called a “confidential commercial customer.” At the time the company projected the launch to take place as soon as Oct. 19, but Rocket Lab postponed the launch to early November to complete unspecified “final checkouts” for the mission.
Rocket Lab provided no information since then on the payload or the customer, including details like the mass of the satellite or its intended orbit. The company noted on the webcast that the rocket would fly on a southern trajectory, suggesting the payload would be placed in a sun-synchronous or other polar orbit.
One potential customer for the mission is E-Space, the satellite constellation startup founded by Greg Wyler, who previous founded O3b and OneWeb. A list of documents filed by New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, which oversees space, included a Sept. 19 filing for “Advice to authorise a payload permit for E-Space.” Such an authorization would be required for E-Space to launch on Rocket Lab’s Electron.
E-Space launched three satellites on an Electron rideshare mission in May 2022. The company, though, has remained quiet about its plans and has not launched any satellites since then. It has previously been linked to an International Telecommunication Union filing by Rwanda for a constellation of more than 300,000 satellites.
The launch was the 12th Electron launch of the year. Rocket Lab had, earlier in the year, projected as many as 22 Electron launches in 2024. However, the company has scaled back those estimates. Speaking at the Satellite Innovation conference Oct. 22, Adam Spice, Rocket Lab’s chief financial officer, said the company was now estimating 15 to 18 Electron launches this year.
Rocket Lab is scheduled to release its financial results for the third quarter after the markets close Nov. 12.
