On December 8 at 00:40 UTC, a Rocket Lab Electron launched two more satellites for BlackSky Global’s commercial imaging constellation from LC-1 at the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.

Like the last Electron launch, “A Data with Destiny” was another dedicated mission for BlackSky.  However, unlike the last mission, this first stage was not equipped to survive reentry and no attempt was made to recover it.

After launch, the first stage burned nominally through to engine cutoff and released the upper stages to continue into orbit. All other flight events were nominal including fairing separation and battery swap. An hour after launch, the two satellites were successfully deployed into the target orbit. This launch, along with the previous Electron launch and the rideshare on Starlink 32, means that half of Black Sky’s current constellation of twelve satellites were launched over the course of about three weeks. These six satellites were commissioned into the constellation in a very short period of time, with the pair on the Starlink rideshare launch being operational in just over half a day. The full Black Sky constellation will consist of sixty satellites.

More Information

BlackSky press release

Spaceflight Industries Celebrates Successful Launch of the BlackSky Pathfinder Satellite Aboard India’s PSLV (BlackSky)