Rocket Lab, a space travel and launch company, has launched its 52nd Electron rocket, which carried a single satellite to low-Earth orbit (LEO) for Capella Space (Capella).

The mission, "A Sky Full of SARs," deployed Capella's next third-generation synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Acadia satellites to a mid-inclination 615 km LEO. Rocket Lab also provided a custom extended fairing on Electron to encompass the payload before Capella's satellite was deployed to space from a Rocket Lab-produced separation system.

Rocket Lab also reported that it would announce the launch window for its next Electron mission. The company has multi-launch contracts with space-based intelligence company BlackSky and French Internet-of-Things (IoT) company Kinéis, which is expected to launch in 2024.

Analyst QuickTake: Rocket Lab has previously launched Capella satellites on its Electron rocket, including the "Stronger Together" mission in March 2023 , when it successfully deployed two 100 kg Capella Space satellites to LEO. A setback followed this in September 2023, when the Electron failed two minutes and 30 seconds into the flight, resulting in the termination of the Capella mission.