[[Home|🏠]] <span style="color: LightSlateGray">></span> <span class="no-hover">[[Launches]]</span> <span style="color: LightSlateGray">></span> 017 - The Owl's Night Begins
>[!success] Mission Success
Rocket Lab's 17th mission was a dedicated launch for Japanese Earth-imaging company Synspective.
The mission was named ‘The Owl’s Night Begins’ in a nod to Synspective’s StriX family of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft developed to be able to image millimetre-level changes to the Earth’s surface from space, independent of weather conditions on Earth and at any time of the day or night. Strix is also the genus of owls.
The StriX-α satellite onboard this mission was the first of a series of spacecraft deployments for Synspective’s planned constellation of more than 30 SAR small satellites to collate data of metropolitan centers across Asia on a daily basis that can be used for urban development planning, construction and infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response.
[📸 Mission Photo Album](https://www.flickr.com/photos/rocketlab/albums/with/72177720301776244)
#electron #launch #success
| **Mission Name** | The Owl's Night Begins |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Launch Date** | 2020-12-15 10:09 |
| **Outcome** | ✅ Success |
| **Customer** | [[Synspective]] |
| **Location** | [[Launch Complex 1#Launch Pad A]] |
| **Vehicle** | [[Electron]] |
| **Orbit Type** | [[🌍 Orbits#SSO]] |
| **Target Orbit** | 500 km | 97.3° |
| **Payload Mass** | 150 kg |
| **Recovery** | No Attempt |
| **Mission Link** | [The Owl's Night Begins](https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/missions-launched/the-owls-night-begins-2/) |
| **Press Kit** | [Press Kit PDF](https://rocketlabcorp.com/assets/Uploads/Flight-17-Press-Kit2.pdf) |
![[Pasted image 20250406132917.png|300]]
## Payload
x1 [[Synspective#🛰️ Space Systems#StriX|StriX Series Satellites]] ![[Synspective#🛰️ Space Systems#StriX]]
## Launch Video
<div class="responsive-video">
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AmbjFv3wa68" title="Rocket Lab's Electron - The Owl's Night Begins Mission" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>
## News
%%DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: start
```
table published as "Published"
from "News"
where contains(mission, [[017 - The Owl's Night Begins]])
sort published desc
```
%%
| File | Published |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------- |
| [[News/Rocket Lab Successfully Launches 17th Electron Mission, Deploys SAR Satellite for Synspective.md\|Rocket Lab Successfully Launches 17th Electron Mission, Deploys SAR Satellite for Synspective]] | December 15, 2020 |
| [[News/Rocket Lab to Launch Dedicated Mission for Japanese Earth Imaging Company Synspective.md\|Rocket Lab to Launch Dedicated Mission for Japanese Earth Imaging Company Synspective]] | November 24, 2020 |
| [[News/Rocket Lab to Launch Dedicated Mission for Japanese Space Industry Start-up Company Synspective.md\|Rocket Lab to Launch Dedicated Mission for Japanese Space Industry Start-up Company Synspective]] | April 14, 2020 |
%%DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: end %%