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Rocket Lab’s Electron successfully places the first 5 nanosatellites of the constellation into orbit

Speaking at the launch, Alexandre Tisserant, Chairman and CEO of Kinéis, said: Kinéis is proud of the success of Electron’s 50th flight. The delicate phase of separating our 5 nanosatellites from the launcher went very well. Our teams are now working to place them in their respective orbits. These first 5 satellites in the constellation mark the start of the IoT revolution driven by Kinéis connectivity and offer the prospect of full commercial services. See you in later this year for the 2nd launch, and congratulations to the teams!»

The «No Time Toulouse» mission lifted off from Rocket Lab’s launch complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand, on 20 June 2024 at 8:13 pm (Paris time), successfully deploying five satellites weighing 28 kg each into a low circular orbit at 635 km. This mission was the first of five Electron launches dedicated to Kinéis.

Commenting on the 50th launch of Electron, Sir Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, said: «Kinéis’ precise and tailored mission achieved today is yet another demonstration of the value Electron continues to bring to the small satellite community. Congratulations to our team and thanks to our customers and supporters for helping us continue to break records and set new industry standards.

Founded in 2018, Kinéis is a New Space French actor, satellite operator and global connectivity provider for the Internet of Things (IoT). Its mission is helping customers to keep link with what matters to them, their guarantee transmission data objects connected, in any point of the globe, in near real time, thanks to constellation of 25 satellites. Kinéis operates for an international market in fields where the stakes are high for people, their activities and their environment. The Toulouse-based company uses a reliable technology thanks to the 40 years heritage of expertise in the data collection since space, adapted for the IoT. In addition to its main shareholders (CLS and CNES), Kinéis raised 100 million euros in 2020 from French private and public investors. In 2021, Kinéis generated a turnover of 8.4 million euros (+20% compared to 2020). The company has been awarded the French Tech Next40, promotion 2021, 2022 and French Tech 120 promotion 2023, focused on environmental and societal issues.

The mission of the Kinéis IoT constellation is to connect any object anywhere in the world (including black points) and transmit useful data to users in near real time.

Kinéis operates for a global market (with subsidiaries in the United States, Brazil and Singapore) in areas that today represent major challenges for mankind, its activities and its environment: prevention of natural risks (detection of forest fires, floods, drought, pollution, etc.), agriculture, traceability of wild and farmed animals, monitoring of infrastructures and energy networks, monitoring of transport and logistics, monitoring of commercial and scientific maritime activities. The applications are infinite and the benefits considerable: risk reduction, anticipation of breakdowns, optimization of activities, etc.

The successful orbiting of the first 5 nanosatellites in the Kinéis constellation would not have been possible without its technical and industrial partners:

This phase of bringing the Kinéis project to fruition has become a reality thanks to 100% French public and private funding, with support from Bpifrance, CLS, CNES, the Frère family, BNP Paribas Développement, CELAD, Maison Dassault and Ethics Group