This ride-share mission of Electron will take 10 satellites to orbit, nine SuperDoves for Planet and CE-SAT-IIB for Canon Electronics.

The nine SuperDoves will be placed into an orbit that allows them to pass over the same point on Earth's surface at the same solar (or Sun) time each day. This allows the satellites to look at the same areas under the same lighting conditions each day.

The 10th and final passenger on the "In Focus" Electron mission is CE-SAT-IIB, which will demonstrate new small-satellite camera systems that can take detailed photos of Earth's surface at night.

Five SuperDove satellites and CE-SAT-IB were payloads on the 13th Electron mission, "Pics Or It Didn't Happen," that failed to reach orbit.

Image: CE-SAT. Credit: Canon Elecrronics, Inc.

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

The company names each Electron mission after a unique or quarky element of the flight. 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 mission for Flight #15 is "In Focus," an acknowledgement of the observation satellites onboard.

Electron is powered by Rutherford engines, the first electric-pump-fed engines 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.

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