IoT 4 You and Me

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-02-08 20:43 | |

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| | Scheduled for (NZDT) | 2024-02-09 09:43 | | Launch site | Rocket Lab LC-1A, Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | | Booster recovery | No | | Launch vehicle | Electron + Curie | | Customer | Kinéis | | Payload | Kinéis 16-20 | | Mission success criteria | Successful deployment of spacecraft into LEO |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

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| | Rocket Lab (official) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Al5hWmjoxQ | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LymS8p38Q98 | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t6_MoFqiT4 |

Stats

• This will be the 1st launch for Rocket Lab this year.
• This will be the 59th overall launch for Rocket Lab.

Payload info:

Rocket Lab mission page

NextSpaceflight:

Fourth batch of five satellites for the French Kinéis IoT constellation designed to operate with 25 nanosatellites of 30 kg each. The constellation will enable Kinéis, a company backed by private and public investors including the French government’s space agency CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales) and CLS (Collecte Localisation Satellites) an international space-based solutions provider, to improve its global IoT connectivity.

Previous mission: Owl The Way Up

Next mission: TBD

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We’re a relatively new community, so feedback is very valuable!

Starlink Group 12-9 launch out of SLC-40 in Florida is currently scheduled for 2025-02-08 19:18 UTC, or 2025-02-08 14:18 local time (EST). Booster 1078-17 to land on A Shortfall of Gravitas.

• SpaceX mission page
• NextSpaceflight page

Webcasts:

• Space Affairs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhFlBN1TdUw
• Spaceflight Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXOIGj1gApQ
• NASASpaceflight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnT_ea4R1kE
• The Launch Pad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSvzVsgFYYQ
• SpaceX: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1888305199439282434
• The Space Devs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etg6nq7iZp4

Vast announced Feb. 6 that it started testing the primary structure qualification article for its Haven-1 station at a facility in Mojave, California. That included a proof test where the module was pressurized to 1.8 times its normal pressure as well as a leak test.

“On the first try we passed that critical test,” Max Haot, chief executive of Vast, said of the proof test in an interview. The company noted in a statement that there was an “indiscernible” leak rate during the 48-hour leak test.

In an October 2024 interview about its larger Haven-2 station, Haot said the company was still targeting a launch in the second half of 2025.

Vast now says that Haven-1 will launch no earlier than May 2026, which Haot said was based on the company’s better understanding of what it would take to build the flight model after completing the qualification article. “We wanted to reach this milestone to make sure the schedule doesn’t move again.”

Under the revised schedule, Vast expects to complete the primary structure of the flight article in July and perform integration and testing in the second half of the year. The company has an agreement to then perform environmental testing of Haven-1 at the Neil Armstrong Test Facility, formerly Plum Brook Station, in Ohio. From there, the module will go to Florida for a launch in May 2026. The first crew would then launch to Haven-1 on a Crew Dragon spacecraft no earlier than the end of June.

Direct link to press release: https://www.vastspace.com/updates/vast-passes-critical-haven-1-test-milestone

Russia successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1v light-class carrier rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region on February 5, 2025. The rocket carried military satellites, identified as Cosmos 2581, 2582, and 2583, into orbit, as confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defense. The launch was conducted by the Aerospace Forces’ Space Troops and is part of Russia's ongoing space operations, which often serve military purposes. The specific purpose and details of the satellites remain undisclosed.

“It sounds great, but you’re just adding to your capital needs,” said Noel Rimalovski, managing director of GH Partners. “If you are going for full vertical integration, you are basically consolidating all of the problems of the industry in your own house.”