Rocket Lab's satellite launch for BlackSky. Photo: Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab has launched another satellite for US company BlackSky from the Mahia peninsula.
It's the 60th time the company's Electron rocket has been launched.
The satellite went up about midday on Wednesday.
It carried a payload approved by the government, of the first of Blacksky's new earth-imaging satellites that it aims to make compatible with military networks.
Rocket Lab is building towards debuting a bigger rocket, the reusable Neutron later this year.
The launch of four of the BlackSky Gen-3 satellites was approved by the Minister for Space in 2023, but this is the first to go up.
The US company has been promoting these as being able to provide more timely and detailed insights to support intelligence and security operations.
BlackSky has been launching with Rocket Lab since 2019.
Commercial satellite imagery is being used to map battlefields in the Ukraine war and is in high demand by Department of Defence (the Pentagon) in the US, according to reports.
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