Space launches

🇺🇸 Electron – That's Not A Knife (DART AE) – Rocket Lab (Commercial) — Suborbital (Sub) — Government/Top Secret

Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C) (no Wikipedia article) — Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

United States Departement of Defense 🇺🇸 (Government)

Payload is a scramjet-powered hypersonic vehicle developed by by Australian company Hypersonix.

🇳🇿 Electron – LOXSAT 1 – Rocket Lab (Commercial) — Low Earth Orbit (LEO) — Technology

Unknown Pad — Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

LOXSAT 1 is a demonstration satellite of a complete cryogenic oxygen fluid management system in orbit, developed by Eta Space and sponsored by NASA's Tipping Point program.

The system will be integrated on a Rocket Lab Photon-LEO satellite bus and collect critical cryogenic fluid management data in orbit for 9 months, demonstrating capabilities of in-space cryogenic storage and transferal. Eta Space plans to use technology developed for this mission to develop a truly commercial depot intended to serve multiple customers in the future.

🇳🇿 Electron – Daughter Of The Stars (LEO-PNT Pathfinder A) – Rocket Lab (Commercial) — Polar Orbit (PO) — Navigation

Unknown Pad — Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

European Space Agency 🇪🇺 (Multinational)

The European Space Agency (ESA)'s LEO-PNT (Low Earth Orbit Positioning, Navigation and Timing) demonstrator mission will feature a 10-satellite constellation demonstration mission that will assess how a low Earth orbit fleet of satellites can work in combination with the Galileo and EGNOS constellations in higher orbits that provide Europe’s own global navigation system.

This launch will lift 2 “Pathfinder A” satellites built by Thales Alenia Space and GMV to a 510 km altitude Low Earth Orbit.

🇳🇿 Electron – Kakushin Rising (JAXA Rideshare) – Rocket Lab (Commercial) — Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) — Technology

Unknown Pad — Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 🇯🇵 (Government)

JAXA-manifested rideshare of eight separate spacecraft that includes educational small sats, an ocean monitoring satellite, a demonstration satellite for ultra-small multispectral cameras, and a deployable antenna that can be packed tightly using origami folding techniques and unfurled to 25 times its size.

The satellites were originally planned to launch with RAISE-4 on a Japanese Epsilon-S rocket, but the Epsilon-S was heavily delayed due to test firing failures.

The 8 satellites are:

* MAGNARO-II

* KOSEN-2R

* WASEDA-SAT-ZERO-II

* FSI-SAT2

* OrigamiSat-2

* Mono-Nikko

* ARICA-2

* PRELUDE

🇳🇿 Electron – StriX Launch 8 – Rocket Lab (Commercial) — Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) — Earth Science

Unknown Pad — Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synspective 🇯🇵 (Private)

Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.

🇳🇿 Electron – VICTUS HAZE Puma – Rocket Lab (Commercial) — Low Earth Orbit (LEO) — Government/Top Secret

Unknown Pad — Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

VICTUS HAZE will see Rocket Lab design, build, launch, and operate a rendezvous proximity operation (RPO) capable spacecraft. U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC)’s Space Safari’s VICTUS HAZE mission will be an exercise of a realistic threat-response scenario and on-orbit space domain awareness (SDA) demonstration. Once the spacecraft build is complete, Rocket Lab will be entered into a Hot Standby Phase awaiting further direction. Once the exercise begins, Rocket Lab will be given notice to launch the spacecraft into a target orbit. After reaching orbit, the spacecraft will be rapidly commissioned and readied for operations. Rocket Lab will configure a Pioneer class spacecraft bus to meet the unique requirements of the VICTUS HAZE mission.

The mission will improve Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) processes and timelines, demonstrating the ability to respond to on-orbit threats on very short timelines and validating techniques for space domain awareness (SDA) and on-orbit characterization. Rocket Lab’s constellation-class production capability and discriminating technical capabilities in the areas of in-space propulsion, precision attitude control, low latency communications, and autonomous operations are key enablers for this mission.

🇳🇿 Electron – Aspera – Rocket Lab (Commercial) — Low Earth Orbit (LEO) — Astrophysics

Unknown Pad — Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 🇺🇸 (Government)

Aspera houses an ultraviolet telescope and will examine hot gas in the intergalactic medium, thought to be contributing to the birth of stars and planets. Aspera will be the first NASA astrophysics mission to gather and map these ultraviolet light signatures, potentially unlocking a deeper understanding of the origins of stars, planets, and life in the universe.