Rocket Lab launches ‘Get the Hawk Outta Here’ mission from New Zealand (video)

Rocket Lab has launched a quartet of satellites for Virginia-based company Hawkeye 360.

An Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab‘s Pad-A at Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand today at 1:28 p.m. EDT (1728 GMT; 5:28 a.m. local New Zealand time on June 27). The rocket carried Hawkeye 360’s “Get the Hawk Outta Here” mission.

Inside Electron’s payload fairings were three radio frequency geolocation microsatellites and a fourth experimental satellite dubbed “Kestrel-0A”. The group was released into a polar low-Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of about 320 miles (520 kilometers).

Hawkeye 360 specializes in providing radio frequency geospatial analytics. The constellation trio aboard Get the Hawk Outta Here is designed to triangulate the origin of radio frequencies across the globe and is part of the company’s “Cluster 12.” The satellites will fill a “critical coverage gap,” according to Rocket Lab’s mission description, granting Hawkeye 360 the ability to “extract RF intelligence in regions of strategic interest.”

Kestrel-0A, meanwhile, is designed to “evaluate emerging capabilities and future technology enhancements,” according to Rocket Lab.

Get the Hawk Outta Here is the second of three missions for Hawkeye 360 that Rocket Lab plans to launch. In total, Rocket Lab will ultimately deliver 15 satellites to LEO for Hawkeye 360. The first mission, dubbed “Virginia Is For Launch Lovers,” served as Electron’s debut mission and launched in Jan. 2023 from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia.

This mission marks the 67th overall launch of Electron and ninth launch of 2025 for Rocket Lab — and the company shows no signs of a slowing cadence.

Rocket Lab still has at least half a dozen launches left on its docket for this year, including the debut of its larger, more powerful Neutron rocket that’s designed to be partially reusable. Rocket Lab also flies a suborbital variant of Electron called HASTE, which serves as a testbed for hypersonic technologies.