Watch the Launch

Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Four Of A Kind Press Kit

Official Mission Press Kit

Four Of A Kind (NorthStar 1)

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Space Situational Awareness

Low Earth Orbit Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
43 - Pacific Ocean

Four space situational awareness (SSA) satellites for Canadian company NorthStar Earth and Space.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 31, 2024, 9:08 a.m.

Launch success.


Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 31, 2024, 6:35 a.m.

Liftoff.


Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 31, 2024, 6:07 a.m.

New T-0.


LL2 • Jan. 31, 2024, 5:50 a.m.

Livestream has started


SwGustav • Jan. 31, 2024, 12:45 a.m.

Adjusting T-0


Electron

Family:
Configuration:

Electron is a two-stage orbital expendable launch vehicle (with an optional third stage) developed by the American aerospace company Rocket Lab. Electron is a small-lift launch vehicle designed to launch small satellites and cubesats to sun-synchronous orbit and low earth orbit. The Electron is the first orbital class rocket to use electric-pump-fed engines, powered by the 9 Rutherford engines on the first stage. It is also used as a suborbital testbed (called HASTE) for hypersonics research.

See Details
Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    2
  • Max Stage
    3
  • Length
    18.0 m
  • Diameter
    1.2 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    1.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    13.0 T
  • Thrust
    162.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Electron
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Electron
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $6000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    300.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    225.0 kg

Booster Info


43

Status: Retired


Type: Core
Flight Proven: No
First Flight: January 31, 2024
Last Flight: January 31, 2024
Flights: 1
Landings Attempted: 1
Landings Successful: 1

Landing Information

The Electron booster was successfully recovered after a soft parachute splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Result: Successful Parachute Landing landing at Pacific Ocean.

Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab

(RL)

CEO: Peter Beck Founded: 2006 Successes: 92 Failures: 4 Pending: 42

Agency Type:

Rocket Lab is an American aerospace manufacturer with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. The company develops lightweight, cost-effective commercial rocket launch services. The Electron Program was founded on the premise that small payloads such as CubeSats require dedicated small launch vehicles and flexibility not currently offered by traditional rocket systems. Its rocket, the Electron, is a light-weight rocket and is now operating commercially. The company is also producing a variety of spacecrafts and spacecrafts components.

INFO WIKI
SpaceNews

Electron launches NorthStar satellites in latest recovery test

Rocket Lab launched the first four satellites for space situational awareness (SSA) company NorthStar Earth and Space Jan. 31 in another test for the company’s efforts to recover and eventually reuse Electron boosters.

NASASpaceflight

Rocket Lab set to kickoff 2024 with “Four of a Kind” satellite mission

Rocket Lab is preparing for its first launch of 2024, with its Electron launch vehicle poised to launch four Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites into low-Earth orbit from the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand. Named “Four of a Kind,”…

SpaceNews

NorthStar pivots to Rocket Lab following Virgin Orbit’s collapse

Canada’s NorthStar Earth and Space has signed a multi-launch deal with Rocket Lab after Virgin Orbit’s bankruptcy shattered plans to start deploying its space situational awareness (SSA) satellites this summer.

The Launch Pad

NorthStar Signs Multi Launch Deal With RocketLab Following Virgin Orbit Collapse

Canada's NorthStar Earth and Space has signed a multi-launch deal with Rocket Lab, with the first four satellites set to be launched on an Electron rocket in the coming fall, following the collapse of there original launch partner, Virgin …

Arstechnica

Rocket Report: Electron scoops up Virgin launch, ULA flies first 2023 mission

"In microlaunchers that balance is on a knife’s edge."

Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B


Long March 2D
Success
7 hours, 10 minutes ago
PIESAT-2 13-16
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

4 X-band synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites for the Chinese Earth observation satellite company PIESAT.


Electron
Success
14 hours, 38 minutes ago
Owl By The Dozen (StriX Launch 12)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
2 days, 1 hour ago
Glonass-K1 No. 20 (?)
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Satellite serial number and Cosmos designation not confirmed. Glonass-K are the third generation of satellite design for GLONASS satellite n…


Kuaizhou 11
Success
2 days, 15 hours ago
SpaceTY-51 & 52
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 Earth observation radar satellites built by the Chinese satellite manufacturer SpaceTY.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 16 hours ago
USSF-259
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

USSF-259 is a classified mission for the United States Space Force. It is possibly a batch of classified LEO satellites based on SpaceX’s Starshield …


Long March 12
Success
2 days, 17 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 25
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Soyuz 2.1b
Success
3 days, 4 hours ago
Progress MS-35 (96P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.


Gravity-1
Success
3 days, 20 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #16
Yellow Sea (launch location 5) - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with …


Zhuque-2E Block 2
Success
4 days, 11 hours ago
SpaceSail Polar Group #15
Launch Area 96A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

10 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…


Vega-C
Success
4 days, 16 hours ago
Sentinel-3C & FLEX
Ariane Launch Area 1 (ELV) - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Sentinel-3C is the third satellite in the Sentinel-3 constellation, which provides high-accuracy optical, radar and altimetry data for marine and lan…