Rocket Lab launch of Europe's 1st 2 'Celeste' navigation satellites scrubbed due to weather

Rocket Lab will launch two pioneering navigation satellites early on Wednesday morning (March 25), and you can watch the action live.

An Electron rocket carrying the first two satellites for the European Space Agency's (ESA) Celeste navigation constellation is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Wednesday at 5:14 a.m. EDT (0914 GMT; 10:14 p.m. local New Zealand time).

The initiative "will demonstrate how a complementary layer flying closer to Earth can enhance Europe’s current Galileo system in medium Earth orbit (MEO), boosting the overall resilience, enhancing its performance and opening opportunities for new service capabilities directly from LEO," ESA officials wrote in a description of Wednesday's launch.

The first phase of the Celeste program will loft a demonstration constellation of 11 satellites. The satellites going up on Wednesday are the first two of that group.

Source: www.space.com

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