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5 new Kinéis nanosatellites will be placed into orbit

Communiqué de presse • September 3, 2024

Kinéis, satellite operator and connectivity provider for the Internet of Things (IoT), is continuing the deployment of the 1st European constellation dedicated to the IoT, comprising 25 nanosatellites. Kinéis is keeping to its announced schedule: the second of the 5 launches is scheduled during a
14-day launch window that opens onTuesday 17 September 2024, from New Zealand, with Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher. The aim is to place 5 new satellites into orbit. This second mission, “Kinéis Killed the RadIoT Star”, comes just three months after the success of the previous mission on 20 June.

Commenting on this 2nd launch, Alexandre Tisserant, Chairman of Kinéis, said:

The Kinéis teams are ready to build on the success of the 1st launch. They have capitalized on this first and delicate technical experience of putting our first 5 satellites into position and are delivering a real technical performance in managing the 5 new satellites simultaneously, in addition to the 5 already in the air. Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher made a major contribution to this success, thanks to the precision with which it injected our nanosatellites into their positions. The IoT revolution is underway. Thanks to our space-based connectivity, we’ll be able to connect any object anywhere in the world in near real time. Go Kinéis!

We’re excited to partner again with Kinéis on this transformative project to advance the future of global connectivity. The precise deployment capabilities of our Electron launcher are crucial for the success of Kinéis’ constellation. This second launch is not just about placing satellites; it’s about enabling a new era of global IoT integration. Together, we are setting the stage for unparalleled innovation and connectivity,

said Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Sir Peter Beck.

Rocket Lab’s Electron carries out the 5 constellation deployment missions

Five launches are required to deploy the Kinéis IoT constellation. They are scheduled to take place between June 2024 and early 2025, a first in the new French space sector for the deployment of a constellation. They will be carried out from the Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 base on the Māhia Peninsula, on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. With 5 satellites to be placed in orbit per launch, Kinéis has chosen to be the sole passenger on each of these 5 launches, enabling it to control its launch schedule and improve the operability of the positioning of each satellite. The first launch, on 20 June, successfully placed 5 nanosatellites into orbit.

Optimizing activities and reducing risks thanks to useful data

Thanks to its constellation of 25 nanosatellites, Kinéis can connect any object from anywhere in the world (including white zones) and transmit useful data from these objects to users in near real time. This data represents a genuine decision-making tool that can be used to optimize activities while reducing risks, thanks to 3 essential functions: tracking, monitoring and alerting.
Kinéis’ space connectivity applications are used in a number of fields that represent major challenges for mankind, its activities and its environment today: natural risk prevention (detection of forest fires, floods, pollution, etc.), monitoring of infrastructures and energy networks (detection of anomalies, predictive maintenance, etc.), transport and logistics monitoring, agriculture, traceability of wild and farmed animals, and monitoring of commercial and leisure maritime activities.

Rocket Lab creates the patch for the 2nd mission: ‘Kinéis Killed the RadIoT Star

While the 1st mission referred to the town of Kinéis (‘No Time Toulouse’), the name of this 2nd mission is borrowed from music, with a little flashback to the late 70s, with the hit by British group The Buggles, ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’.

The Radio/RadIoT pun is reminiscent of the French company’s commercial ambition to capture 30% of the global IoT market in the medium term.

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