\t\t*]:pointer-events-auto [content-visibility:auto] supports-[content-visibility:auto]:[contain-intrinsic-size:auto_100lvh] scroll-mt-[calc(var(–header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]” dir=”auto” tabindex=”-1″ data-turn-id=”request-WEB:7adac108-e90a-45dc-9fe0-7a16dc96bce8-1″ data-testid=”conversation-turn-4″ data-scroll-anchor=”true” data-turn=”assistant” style=”height: auto !important;”><\/p>\n
Rocket Lab successfully launched its sixth mission for Japanese Earth-imaging company iQPS on Tuesday, deploying another satellite to strengthen the firm\u2019s constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft.<\/p>\n
An Electron rocket carrying the QPS-SAR-14 satellite, named Yachihoko-I<\/em>, lifted off from Rocket Lab\u2019s Mahia Peninsula launch site in New Zealand at 2:51 p.m. EST (1951 GMT; 8:51 a.m. local time on Nov. 6). About 50 minutes after liftoff, the rocket\u2019s kick stage deployed the satellite into a circular orbit 357 miles (575 kilometers) above Earth.<\/p>\n \u201cThis satellite will join the rest of the QPS-SAR constellation in providing high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and Earth monitoring services globally,\u201d Rocket Lab said in a mission description. The company noted that iQPS aims to operate a 36-satellite network capable of delivering near-real-time images of Earth every 10 minutes.<\/p>\n Although named QPS-SAR-14, Yachihoko-I<\/em> is the 13th iQPS satellite to reach orbit. Seven of the company\u2019s previous satellites were launched aboard rockets from India, Japan, and the United States, including India\u2019s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, Japan\u2019s Epsilon, and SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9. The satellite\u2019s name, Yachihoko<\/em>, refers to a Japanese god of nation-building, inspiring Rocket Lab to title the mission \u201cThe Nation God Navigates.\u201d<\/p>\n The flight marked Rocket Lab\u2019s 16th mission of 2025 and its 74th overall. Most of the company\u2019s launches have used the 18-meter-tall Electron rocket, while its suborbital variant, known as HASTE \u2014 short for \u201cHypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron\u201d \u2014 has flown five times since its debut in June 2023.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" *]:pointer-events-auto [content-visibility:auto] supports-[content-visibility:auto]:[contain-intrinsic-size:auto_100lvh] scroll-mt-[calc(var(–header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]” dir=”auto” tabindex=”-1″ data-turn-id=”request-WEB:7adac108-e90a-45dc-9fe0-7a16dc96bce8-1″ data-testid=”conversation-turn-4″ data-scroll-anchor=”true” data-turn=”assistant” style=”height: auto !important;”> Rocket Lab successfully launched its sixth mission for Japanese Earth-imaging company iQPS on Tuesday, deploying another satellite to strengthen the firm\u2019s constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft. An Electron rocket carrying the QPS-SAR-14 satellite, named Yachihoko-I, lifted off from Rocket Lab\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[545,479,6591,377,1596,544,20,494],"class_list":["post-20292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-electron","tag-falcon-9","tag-iqps-satellite","tag-japan","tag-new-zealand","tag-rocket-lab","tag-satellite","tag-suborbital"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}