Rocket Lab Launches Three HawkEye Satellites From New Zealand
The Electron rocket deployed three signal monitoring spacecraft into low Earth orbit on Thursday, marking the company's 19th flight of the year.
By Aiko Soto ·
Three commercial satellites designed to monitor radio frequency emissions entered low Earth orbit on October 23. Rocket Lab placed the spacecraft into position at an altitude of 323 miles, where they will begin scanning the planet for maritime tracking and radar monitoring data.
The Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab's site in New Zealand at 3:11 a.m. EDT. The mission, named "We're Not Hawking Around," carried three "Hawk" units built for the Virginia-based company HawkEye 360. The launch was the 98th flight for Rocket Lab and the 19th of 2026.
HawkEye 360 operates in clusters of three to collect signal data across the RF spectrum. The company supplies this information to the U.S. government and its allies. It states that its AI-powered analytics turn knowledge of the RF spectrum into a strategic advantage for decision-making.
This deployment follows a rapid pace of launches for the customer. Three other HawkEye satellites flew on SpaceX's Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission just two days earlier. Since its first satellites reached orbit in 2018, the company has placed nearly 50 of them into low Earth orbit.
Rocket Lab has conducted 16 flights this year using the two-stage Electron rocket. The remaining three flights utilized HASTE, a suborbital variant of the Electron that allows customers to test technologies in a hypersonic flight environment.
