Rocket Lab launches two Electrons within 24 hours

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab launched a pair of Electron rockets with 24 hours of each other Nov. 24, a first for the company.

One Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia, at 1 a.m. Eastern. That launch used a suborbital version of the rocket, called Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE), intended for use in hypersonic testing.

Rocket Lab did not announce the HASTE mission in advance, although NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility noted on social media that a suborbital launch was planned between Nov. 21 and 25. Rocket Lab later confirmed that the launch was a success but did not provide details about it. The customer is believed to be Leidos, which signed a contract in September 2023 for four HASTE launches in 2024 and 2025.

This was the first HASTE launch since the vehicle’s debut in June 2023. This was also the first launch from Launch Complex 2 since an Electron mission for the National Reconnaissance Office in March 2024, and the fifth overall from that pad.

Rocket Lab followed the HASTE mission with an orbital launch of Electron from its Launch Complex 1B in New Zealand at 10:55 p.m. Eastern Nov. 24. The rocket successfully deployed into orbit a third set of five satellites for French company Kinéis, which is deploying a constellation to provide Internet of Things connectivity services.

Rocket Lab launched the first two sets of Kinéis satellites in June and September. These launches are part of a five-launch contract announced in 2021, with two more launches planned through the first quarter of 2025.

“With 15 Kinéis satellites now in orbit, we’re one step closer to the full deployment of our dedicated IoT constellation for transmitting data in near-real time, anywhere on the globe,” Alexandre Tisserant, chief executive of Kinéis, said in a statement after the launch. He said in September that he expected the full constellation to enter service in mid-2025, with initial services beginning as soon as January with the first 10 satellites.

The two launches marked the fastest turnaround time between launches in the company’s history, which previously had been about a week. The company added that this is also, to its knowledge, the first time a single launch operator carried out two launches in different hemispheres within 24 hours.

“That’s unprecedented capability in the small launch market and one we’re immensely proud to deliver at Rocket Lab,” Peter Beck, chief executive of Rocket Lab, said in a statement.

With these two launches, Rocket Lab has conducted 14 Electron launches so far this year. While the company originally projected as many as 22 launches this year, Beck said in a Nov. 12 earnings call that the company was maintaining revised guidance of 15 to 18 Electron launches for the year. “The customers are looking good, so I think we’ll be within that range,” he said.