Clean room technician working on the integration of a Kinéis flight model satellite. Photo: Kinéis

French startup Kinéis is preparing for two Rocket Lab launches starting in June to launch the first 10 satellites of its IoT constellation. Kinéis announced Thursday that two launches are planned between June 17 and July 15, with five satellites on each launch. 

Kinéis signed a five-launch deal with Rocket Lab in 2021. At the time, launches were planned to start in the second quarter of 2023. 

The Kinéis nanosatellites are built on a 16U platform and weigh 28 kg. They are equipped with an IoT and automatic maritime identification system (AIS) payload. Thales Alenia Space is the prime contractor of the satellites. Hemeria built the satellite platform and Syrlinks provided the payload. 

Also on Thursday, Kinéis announced a new collaboration with chip manufacturer Semtech to integrate its satellite connectivity into a terrestrial IoT chip. The Semtech LoRa Edge chips will have global access to IoT connectivity from Kinéis, in addition to LoRaWAN terrestrial connectivity without adding additional electronic modules.

Kinéis plans to serve industries and use cases like agriculture, monitoring fixed infrastructures and energy networks, monitoring transport and logistics, and tracking wildlife and livestock and defense.The company plans for service to start in 2025, with 20 satellites in orbit.