Rocket Lab delays launch due to space collision concern

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Rocket Lab delayed the launch of the IOT 4 You and Me mission in order to ensure 'it's safe to merge onto the space highway.'

a brown and white rocket launches into a blue sky
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launches a satellite for the company Capella Space on Aug. 23, 2023. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)

Editor's note: Rocket Lab has delayed the launch of the IOT 4 You and Me mission in order to ensure the mission does not interfere with "space traffic from other satellites and the ISS," according to a company statement on X. A new launch date has not yet been set.

Rocket Lab is set to launch five "Internet of Things" satellites this week after a delay, and you can watch the action live.

A 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron rocket carrying five spacecraft for the French company Kinéis is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site once the company determines it has a safe launch opportunity. Rocket Lab stood down from a launch opportunity on Feb. 3 in order to ensure the mission has no risk of interfering with other spacecraft in orbit and that "it's safe to merge onto the space highway," the company wrote on X.

Rocket Lab will webcast the mission, which it calls "IOT 4 You and Me," at its website beginning about 30 minutes before launch. Space.com will carry the feed as well, if the company makes it available.

The launch is the fourth of five that Rocket Lab will conduct to build out Kinéis' 25-nanosatellite constellation in low Earth orbit.

Related: Rocket Lab launches 5 IoT satellites on landmark 50th mission (video)

Once that constellation is fully up and running, the French company will be able to "connect any object from anywhere in the world and transmit useful data from these objects to users in near real time," Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description.

"This data is a decision-making tool that can be used to optimize activities while reducing risks, thanks to three essential functions: tracking, monitoring and alerting," the company added.

If all goes according to plan today, the five Kinéis satellites will be deployed into a 401-mile-high (646 kilometers) circular orbit 66.5 minutes after launch.

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— Rocket Lab launches 5 'Internet of Things' satellites to orbit (video)

"IOT 4 You and Me" will be Rocket Lab's first launch of 2025. In 2024, the California-based company launched a total of 16 missions — 14 orbital flights with Electron and two suborbital jaunts with HASTE, a modified version of the rocket that helps customers test hypersonic technology.

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.