Rocket Lab is preparing to carry out its first orbital launch of 2025 on Sunday morning local time.
It will launch an Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1, Pad A, at the company’s launch site in Mahia, New Zealand. Liftoff of the mission, dubbed ‘IoT 4 You and Me’ mission is set for 9:43 a.m. NZDT on Feb. 9 (3:43 p.m. EST, 2043 UTC on Feb. 8).
Rocket Lab will host a livestream of the mission on its YouTube channel beginning about 20 minutes prior to liftoff.
The company was originally targeting a launch on Feb. 4, but had to stand down do to a Collision On Launch Avoidance/Assessment (COLA) connected to the International Space Station.
Onboard the Electron rocket are five satellites for the French Internet of Things (IoT) company, Kinéis. This will be the fourth out of five dedicated launches for the company to complete its constellation of 25 satellites.
Each satellite is 1.4 x 1.6 m (4.6 x 5.2 ft) in size and will launch into a circular orbit at 646 km (401 mi) at a 97 degrees inclination. The satellites are spread over five orbital planes with five satellites in each plane.
“Moving at a speed of 7.8 km per second, our satellites are equipped with electric propulsion systems powered by solar panels, keeping them in orbit and avoiding collisions,” Kinéis wrote on its website. “This concentration of expertise and innovation enables us to ensure 80 satellite passes every day over every point on the globe, guaranteeing continuous data transmission.”
