Rocket Lab USA Inc. launched its latest Electron rocket this month to deploy five satellites for French Internet-of-Things constellation operator, Kineis.

The Long Beach aerospace company launched the IOT 4 You and Me mission from its complex in Mahia, New Zealand, on Feb. 9.

The mission was Rocket Lab’s first of the year, the fourth for Kineis and the 59th Electron launch overall. The company also announced its next Electron mission with a launch window opening on Feb. 18.

Rocket Lab founder and Chief Executive Sir Peter Beck said that with this fourth launch for Kineis and one still to go, the company will have deployed Kineis’ entire constellation in less than a year.

“It’s not uncommon for constellation operators to wait longer than that for their first launch, let alone have a full constellation deployed and operating,” Beck said in a statement. “Once again Electron has shown its strength as a pinpoint accurate constellation launcher that lets customers tailor missions and schedules to their needs.”

The Kinéis constellation – or group of satellites – is designed to make it possible to connect and locate any connected object anywhere in the world, enabling data transmission to users in near-real time, at low bit rates and with very low energy consumption, according to a release from Rocket Lab.

By supporting internet connections to the Earth’s most isolated locations, Kinéis’ constellation can support forest fire detection, water resource management, infrastructure and energy network monitoring, transport and logistics tracking, and much more.

Michel Sarthou, the chief technology officer of the French satellite maker, called producing and launching 25 nanosatellites into low earth orbit in just eight months is an “unprecedented feat.

“With this fourth and penultimate launch, Kinéis moves one step closer to its ambitious goal: delivering global Internet-of-Things coverage through a complete constellation of 25 nanosatellites,” Sarthou said in a statement.

The launch date for the fifth and final Kinéis launch in this series of missions will be announced in the coming weeks.

The next launch

The next Electron launch is scheduled for lift-off starting on Feb. 18.

The Fasten Your Space Belts mission will be the first of several for BlackSky Technology Inc. in Herndon, Virginia. This first mission will take up a third-generation satellite that will add a high-resolution 35-centimeter imaging capability to BlackSky’s high-cadence, low-latency data and artificial intelligence-enabled analytics offerings.

The mission is the ninth launch for BlackSky since 2019, making Rocket Lab the most high-volume launch provider for BlackSky’s constellation to date.

“Electron is a trusted and reliable constellation builder for companies like BlackSky, allowing them to be in control of how, when, and where to deploy their constellation,” Beck said in a statement. “BlackSky is one of our earliest and longest-standing commercial satellite customers, and it’s great to be heading back to the pad with them once again to continue to advance and expand their constellation.”

Brian O’Toole, BlackSky chief executive, added that the launch represents “a major inflection point” for the company’s global defense and intelligence customer base as it introduces high-resolution capabilities to its monitoring constellation.

“As more Gen-3 satellites complete production, we expect a regular cadence of additional launches over the coming year,” O’Toole said in a statement.