BlackSky
Signs New Block Buy for Five Rocket Lab
Launches
August 08, 2023
Rocket Lab USA, Inc
has signed another block buy deal for
five Electron launches with BlackSky, a
leading provider of real-time geospatial
intelligence and global monitoring
services.
Rocket Lab has
launched six Electron missions for
BlackSky since 2019, becoming the
primary launch provider for BlackSky’s
constellation. With these five new
launches added to the manifest, BlackSky
has contracted more Electron launches
than any other single commercial
customer. The launches are expected to
begin in 2024 from Rocket Lab’s Launch
Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand.
“After four years
of launching for BlackSky, we’re
delighted to continue our partnership
with more dedicated launches on
Electron,” said Rocket Lab founder and
CEO Peter Beck. “Building and
maintaining a constellation requires
precision deployment to unique orbits
and a dependable launch schedule. We’re
proud to deliver this dependable and
tailored capability launch after launch,
year after year.”
BlackSky’s
next-generation Gen-3 satellites are
designed to produce images with up to
35-centimeter resolution. Increased
resolution and enhanced spectral
diversity extend BlackSky’s ability to
provide real-time insights to its
customers in a broad set of conditions,
including nighttime, low light and
challenging weather.
The new BlackSky
launches join a busy Electron manifest
in 2024 featuring missions for
commercial constellation operators
Capella Space, Kinéis, Hawkeye 360, and
Synspective, as well as a variety of
government missions.