The Capella satellite fleet will enable real-time, unobstructed views of Earth’s surface using radar to see through clouds and weather events to observe Earth's surface at all times.

The Rocket Lab “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Optical” mission will place the first operational Capella satellite into orbit following a test mission which launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in March 2018.

Eventually, 30 satellites are planned to complete the constellation.

Using radar technology, the Capella network will see down to 0.5 meter (1.5 ft) resolution of objects on the ground.

Each Capella small satellite has a launch mass of 100 kg, contains solar arrays and batteries for power, and will operate in low Earth orbit.

Electron is Rocket Lab's answer to the massively growing demand for dedicated small satellite launchers.

The company names each Electron after a unique or quarky element of the mission. Past examples include "That's A Funny Looking Cactus" in honor of odd looking cacti in New Mexico where one payload customer was based, and "Running Out Of Fingers" in reference to flight #10 having no more fingers on which to count missions.

The Electron's name for Flight #14 is "I Can't Believe It's Not Optical" -- a play on "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" as the Earth observation satellite this mission will launch uses radar to see Earth's surface, not an optical camera.

This will mark the Return To Flight for Electron after a mission-ending failure during second stage flight on July 4th, 2020, prematurely ended the 13th flight of the rocket.

Electron is powered by Rutherford engines, the first electric-pump-fed engine to power an orbital rocket, and costs approximately $6 million (USD).

Electron flew for the first time in May 2017 and has two stages -- with an option to add a third stage based on mission needs. It is currently expendable, but Rocket Lab is developing and testing recovery technology and systems on Electron's first stage.

It can deliver a 225 kg payload into a 500 km Sun-Synchronous Orbit.

It has suffered two failures, one on its first mission in 2017 and on its 13th flight in 2020.

Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1A (LC-1A) on the Māhia Peninsula on New Zealand's North Island is part of the company's first launch site, with another under construction at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia.

An isolated location, the Māhia launch site hosted its first orbital launch attempt of Electron in May 2017 and its first successful orbital launch in January 2018.

Together with Rocket Lab's third launch pad in Virginia, their launch sites can support up to 132 Electron launch opportunities every year.

The Māhia location has two launch pads (LC-1A and LC-1B) and two separate integration hangers to permit simultaneous and protected processing of two payloads for flight at the same time.

LC-1A is the original pad at the Māhia site, with LC-1B launching its first mission in February 2022.

Photo: Rocket Lab