Blastoff! Rocket Lab launches mystery satellite for secretive private customer [10:49]

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai follows.

VideoFromSpace [videos links on YT]

Transcript
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ignition and lift off.

Beginning petrol stage one propulsion is nominal. Insight at speed is a friend indeed. And friends, we have left the pad, and we're on our way to space. There on your screen is Electron rapidly climbing through Earth's atmosphere as it ascends over launch complex 1 with a fantastic daytime view from our cameras. Those nine Rutherford engines at the bottom of the stage are about to power Electron through Max Q or maximum aerodynamic pressure. Let's listen in now.

Approaching Max Q. Cleared. Max Q. And there goes the call for Max Q. Electron is performing nominally during this first stage burn. We're now hitting speeds of more than 22,000 km an hour at more than 20 km above Earth. Now, our next milestone coming up will be those staging events we talked about earlier. The first one is called MCO or main engine cutoff when those Rutherford engines at the bottom of the rocket power down completely. Once that happens, the first and the second stages separate within a few seconds of Miko. Then after that separation, the Rutherford engine on the second stage will ignite. So that's Miko stage separation and then second stage engine startup coming up very shortly at around T plus 2 minutes 40 seconds.

Stage one propulsion holding nominal. Stand by for Mo in roughly 30 seconds. 15 seconds to staging. Entered burnout detect mode. Mo confirmed. Stage two ignition confirmed. Stage two separation confirmed. [applause] Beautiful work by Electron there. We are clear through Mo and stage separation. And there on your screen is the glow of the second stage Rutherford engine as it continues the mission on to its 470 km orbital target. We're now at T plus 3 minutes into flight, traveling at speeds of more than 80,000 km an hour. Up next is fairing jettison. That's when Electron's nose cone separates and falls away. Keep an eye on the screen. We should hopefully see those two fairing halves fall past our engine camera.

Fairing jettison confirmed. There they go. And that was the call out we were expecting. Fairing separation confirmed by mission control. Now we're counting to hear nominal call outs from the team and the mission continues. All is on track for our next milestone, which will be the battery hot swap on the second stage to continue powering that Rutherford engine. That maneuver is expected to take place at around T plus 6 minutes 40 seconds into flight. So, we've got a bit of time left for [music] those current battery packs to continue doing their thing.

Stage two propulsion holding nominal. The next major milestone we're expecting to see will be battery hot swap. Since Electron's second stage flight time lasts longer than the capacity of the first set of batteries, the rocket's flight computer will make the automatic switch to a fresh new set when it's time. Once the hot swap has happened, Electron will jettison the old dead battery packs that it no longer needs. You'll be able to see those disconnect in real time. They're these shiny silver packs on your screen there. The jettison happens quickly, so if you blink and you miss it, we should get a call out from mission control at the same time to confirm that action took place.

Guidance is nominal. 200 seconds remaining. HB discharge holding nominal approaching hot swap in 32 seconds. Throttling down. Battery jettison confirmed. Hot swap successful. And there they go. Battery hot swap is successful. And Electron's second stage engine is running on a fresh set of batteries. This new battery system will power the second stage all the way through to the end of its flight time, which will conclude with the shutdown of its engine and separation of the kickstage with the mission's payload. Now, still a couple more minutes of engine burn time to go. Otherwise, all looks nominal for Rutherford and the second stage. We're moving now at more than 18, almost 18,000 km an hour and around 193 km above Earth.

FDS are saved. At T plus 7 minutes and 40 seconds into flight, everything is proceeding nominally for this mission. Operators in mission control continue to monitor the vehicle systems closely as we approach second stage cutoff and kickstage separation for the next phase of the mission. We're just a few minutes away from this milestone and the second stage is accelerating well, getting closer to the speed we need to enter orbit at around 27,000 km/h.

Right, we're coming up on the final actions for Electron's second stage now with SECO just a few seconds away before we separate the kickstage with this mission satellite. What we're expecting to happen next is that we'll see the engine's red hot nozzle start to cool with engine shutdown and that will be our visual confirmation that SECO took place with no issues alongside the audio call out we can expect from mission control at the same time. Now, let's listen in for that call out signaling we've cleared SECO and achieved kickstage separation.

SECO confirmed. Nominal transfer orbit achieved. Stage separation confirmed. Nice. That was a perfect nominal SECO and kickstage separation for this mission. Confirmed across the nets and from what you just saw on the screen moments ago with Rutherford's engine nozzle cooling down quickly. The kickstage has taken over the rest of the mission. Now to deliver its satellite to its 470 km target orbit, it first has to complete its journey around the other side of the Earth before the kickstage's engine lights up to circularize its trajectory and deploy the payload to its new home in LEO.

Congratulations to our launch team and customer on the journey so far. As we said before, we'll be ending the broadcast here while the kickstage continues the mission, but we'll share an update to confirm mission success once the satellite has been deployed within the hour. That's right. Look out for that update across our social media channels and our website at rocketlabc.com.

Otherwise, thank you very much for joining us for our 83rd launch. We'll be back with you again soon for our next launch from Launch Complex 1. But until next time, this is Rocket Lab Mission Control signing off.

Rocket Lab launches mystery satellite for 'confidential commercial customer' (video) | Mike Wall | Space.com

it is carrying a sign to the outer galaxy.
“Kilroy was here!”

Observers have speculated that it’s part of BlackSky’s Gen-3 satellite constellation, which it built for the US military for Earth imaging at a jaw-dropping resolution

Gen-3 satellites are designed to image individual pixels at a resolution of 50 centimeters, providing detailed clarity of the Earth’s surface. These were developed under a 2020 contract for the US military, with launches beginning in 2022.

Rocket Lab has carved out a nice little niche for themselves.

Some sites have said the resolution will be in the 35 cm range. I wonder if the actual number is confidential.

https://spacenews.com/blacksky-announces-latest-gen-3-satellite-in-orbit-after-confidential-electron-launch/

83 launches. 100% mission success.
I can remember being ecstatic when they reached 30!!

We can do that?