Rocket Lab has launched a quartet of satellites for Virginia-based firm Hawkeye 360.
An Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab‘s Pad-A at Launch Complicated 1 in Mahia, New Zealand right this moment at 1:28 p.m. EDT (1728 GMT; 5:28 a.m. native New Zealand time on June 27). The rocket carried Hawkeye 360’s “Get the Hawk Outta Right here” mission.
Inside Electron’s payload fairings have been three radio frequency geolocation microsatellites and a fourth experimental satellite tv for pc dubbed “Kestrel-0A”. The group was launched right into a polar low-Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of about 320 miles (520 kilometers).
Hawkeye 360 makes a speciality of offering radio frequency geospatial analytics. The constellation trio aboard Get the Hawk Outta Right here is designed to triangulate the origin of radio frequencies throughout the globe and is a part of the corporate’s “Cluster 12.” The satellites will fill a “vital protection hole,” in accordance with Rocket Lab’s mission description, granting Hawkeye 360 the power to “extract RF intelligence in areas of strategic curiosity.”
Kestrel-0A, in the meantime, is designed to “consider rising capabilities and future know-how enhancements,” in accordance with Rocket Lab.
🚀 MISSION SUCCESS! All Cluster 12 satellites and Kestral-0A have been efficiently deployed to their 520km low Earth orbit for @hawkeye360.That’s 231 payloads deployed by Electron, our 67th mission total, and ninth launch from LC-1 this 12 months. pic.twitter.com/jFxSOcmfTgJune 26, 2025
Get the Hawk Outta Right here is the second of three missions for Hawkeye 360 that Rocket Lab plans to launch. In complete, Rocket Lab will finally ship 15 satellites to LEO for Hawkeye 360. The primary mission, dubbed “Virginia Is For Launch Lovers,” served as Electron’s debut mission and launched in Jan. 2023 from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complicated 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia.
This mission marks the 67th total launch of Electron and ninth launch of 2025 for Rocket Lab — and the corporate exhibits no indicators of a slowing cadence.
Rocket Lab nonetheless has a minimum of half a dozen launches left on its docket for this 12 months, together with the debut of its bigger, extra highly effective Neutron rocket that is designed to be partially reusable. Rocket Lab additionally flies a suborbital variant of Electron referred to as HASTE, which serves as a testbed for hypersonic applied sciences.