Rocket Lab Launches Japanese Radar Satellite to Orbit

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.