Latest news with #BlackSkyGen-3
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rocket Lab Successfully Launches Electron Rocket With Busy Year Ahead
Rocket Lab's Electron rocket continued its successful launch history this week by inserting the BlackSky Gen-3 satellite into a low-Earth-orbit target, 292 miles above the Earth. This is the seventh successful launch Electron has made this year, but the schedule is only going to accelerate from here. There are already a further 14 launches planned for the rest of 2025, with two more slated for 2026, and a further 10 within a 2025-2027 launch window. Rocket Lab has been developing its Electron rocket design for over a decade and has been successfully launching payloads for customers since the end of 2018. Although the industry has been dominated by larger rocket developers, like SpaceX, Rocket Lab has continually championed the smaller rocket industry. In April, it argued that there was a value in being able to control the orbital insertion angle, instead of just ride-sharing on someone else's payload in a larger rocket design, like a Falcon 9, or future Starship. Credit: Rocket Lab And Electron keeps proving the management right. Rocket Lab is ramping up its launch schedule to show it can be a responsive and prolific launch vehicle operator. The last Electron launch was a mere two weeks previously on May 17. It also managed three launches in March from the same launch site complex in Mahia, New Zealand. The BlackSky AI-surveillance satellite is the seventh of more than 20 planned launches this year. The launches are spread across a few different companies, mostly launching satellites into low Earth orbit. However, in 2025 alone it will also complete a joint mission with MIT to send an atmospheric probe to Venus and complete a contract for the U.S. Space Force to show its responsiveness to rapid launch requirements. Most of the upcoming launches will be from the same New Zealand-based launch complex, though a couple are slated to launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia. Building on these successes, Rocket Lab plans to introduce its larger Neutron rocket before the end of 2025. It will have a payload up to 25 times that of Electron, and a reusable first stage, in a similar fashion to SpaceX's Falcon 9—though Falcon 9 can still carry substantially more cargo into orbit. This will represent Rocket Lab stepping into the medium payload space, one that the company feels will complement its existing small payload launch vehicle.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BlackSky Successfully Completes Commissioning for First Gen-3 Satellite and Prepares to Ship Second Unit for Expected Launch in Q2
A BlackSky Gen-3 satellite image with AI-enabled analytics highlighting various-sized military planes and helicopters in Yelizovo, Russia, collected April 21, 2025. BlackSky's advanced, proprietary automated detection and identification algorithms transform very high-resolution Gen-3 imagery into actionable insights at machine speed and scale over strategic and tactical objects of interest. A BlackSky Gen-3 satellite image with AI-enabled analytics highlighting various military ships and submarines at Bandar-Abbas Port, Iran, collected March 30, 2025. BlackSky's advanced, proprietary automated detection and identification algorithms transform very high-resolution Gen-3 imagery into actionable insights at machine speed and scale over strategic and tactical objects of interest. Gen-3 exceeding expectations for tasking-to-delivery performance amid positive customer demand on early very high-resolution 35-centimeter imagery and AI-driven analytics samples HERNDON, Va., May 06, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) has successfully completed commissioning its first Gen-3 satellite. The first satellite continues to exceed expectations for tasking-to-delivery performance amid positive customer feedback on early very high-resolution 35-centimeter imagery and AI-driven analytics samples. "BlackSky has demonstrated incredible, industry-leading speed for launch to on-orbit operations, completing commissioning for our first Gen-3 satellite a full month ahead of schedule," said Brian O'Toole, BlackSky CEO. "This pace of performance is a testament to our team's experience, quality and rigor of our design, production and test practices, giving BlackSky a distinct advantage for scaling this service quickly and reliably for our customers." "The regular cadence of Gen-3 launches will produce a robust combination of capacity and low-latency, high-revisit capabilities to support near-term, early access customers and long-term demand for real-time space-based dynamic monitoring services," said O'Toole. Satellite commissioning processes begin immediately after deployment from a launch vehicle and typically includes initial tracking, making first contact and the sequential activation of critical subsystems. Follow-on activities include calibrating payloads, sensors, communications and control systems, and optimizing automated operations across the entire constellation-to-ground architecture. During the Gen-3 commissioning process, BlackSky's first Gen-3 satellite quickly produced imagery within five days and AI-enabled analytics within three weeks of launch. "BlackSky has received resounding positive customer response to early very high-resolution 35-centimeter imagery samples. The crispness and detail have enhanced the utility of these data products by giving users the ability to make observations often accomplished with higher resolution systems. In many instances analysts were able to discern details like sunroofs on top of automobiles or individual people and their shadows. This incredible amount of detail, combined with AI-enabled analytics makes available an expansive new set of mission solutions and reduces the speed of analyses over large volumes of imagery from days to minutes," said O'Toole. BlackSky has made final preparations to send its second Gen-3 unit to Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand, in anticipation of launch in Q2. The Gen-3 launch schedule is proceeding as planned as the company prepares to integrate high-cadence, very high-resolution 35-centimeter imagery into customers' daily workflows later this year.
