Rocket Lab scrubs Strix radar satellite launch for Synspective over ‘sensor data’

The spaceflight company Rocket Lab called off a planned launch of half a dozen commercial satellites due to concerns over sensor readings on Friday (Dec. 20).

Rocket Lab scrubbed what was to be its 16th Electron rocket flight of 2024 less than 20 minutes before planned liftoff at 10:03 a.m. EST (1503 GMT) from the company’s primary launch site on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Fueling of the rocket had already begun at the time of the scrub.

“We are standing down from today’s launch attempt for Synspective to take a closer look at sensor data,” Rocket Lab wrote in an update on social media. “We have backup opportunities in the coming days, so stand by for the new launch date shortly.”

The Rocket Lab mission, called “Owl The Way Up,” is carrying six Strix radar imaging satellites for the Japan-based company Synspective. Synspective is building a constellation of Strix satellites to “deliver imagery that can detect millimetre-level changes to the Earth’s surface from space,” Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description.

Synspective has booked 16 launches of Strix satellites with Rocket Lab. The first Strix launch lifted off in December 2020. The upcoming “Owl The Way Up” mission will be the sixth Rocket Lab flight for Synspective.

Once Rocket Lab picks a new launch date for “Owl The Way Up,” the company is expected to provide a livestream for the mission. You’ll be able to watch the launch live via Rocket Lab’s livestream page and YouTube channel. The webcast will begin about 20 minutes before liftoff.

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com’s Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.