Rocket Lab launches private Japanese radar satellite to orbit from New Zealand

Rocket Lab launched a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite for the Japanese Earth-imaging company iQPS early Tuesday morning (Aug. 5).

An Electron rocket carrying the QPS-SAR-12 satellite, nicknamed Kushinada-I, lifted off from Rocket Lab‘s New Zealand site on Tuesday at 12:10 a.m. EDT (0410 GMT and 4:10 p.m. local New Zealand time).

The Electron deployed Kushinada-I into a circular orbit 357 miles (575 kilometers) above Earth about 54 minutes after launch as planned, Rocket Lab announced via X.

The satellite will now “join the rest of the QPS-SAR constellation in providing high-resolution synthetic aperture radar images and Earth-monitoring services globally,” Rocket Lab wrote in a description of the mission, which it called “The Harvest Goddess Thrives.” (The name is a reference to Kushinada, a Japanese goddess of harvest and prosperity.)

As its formal name suggests, QPS-SAR-12 is the 12th iQPS satellite to reach orbit. The Japanese company aims to operate a constellation of 36 SAR spacecraft, which can peer through clouds and study Earth‘s surface at night as well as during the day.

“The data gathered by QPS-SAR constellation has the potential to revolutionize industries and reshape the future,” Rocket Lab wrote in the mission’s press kit, which you can find here.

“By leveraging insights from moving object data, iQPS can unlock new economic value, enhance urban safety and security, and provide predictive analytics for agriculture, national economies, and regional markets when integrated with weather, market, and economic data,” the company added.

“The Harvest Goddess Thrives” was Rocket Lab’s fifth mission for iQPS and the 69th overall flight to date for the 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) Electron, which gives small satellites dedicated rides to orbit.

Rocket Lab also operates a suborbital version of Electron called HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron), which serves as a testbed for hypersonic technology. And the company is developing a larger rocket called Neutron, which could debut later this year.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 12:23 a.m. ET on Aug. 5 with news of successful liftoff, then again at 1:30 a.m. ET with news of successful satellite deploy.