Rocket Lab Launches Japanese Earth-imaging Satellite For iQPS: The Harvest Goddess Thrives

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 1, Pad B on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula at 0410 UTC on Aug. 5, deploying the QPS-SAR-12 satellite (nicknamed Kushinada-I), into a planned 575 kilometers circular Earth orbit. The 'The Harvest Goddess Thrives' mission marked Rocket Lab's fifth dedicated launch for the Japanese Earth-imaging company iQPS (Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc.) and the 69th overall Electron flight.

Following main engine cutoff(MECO) and second engine cutoff(SECO), the Electron's Kick stage deployed Kushinada-I into a circular orbit 575 kilometers above Earth about 54 minutes after launch, as announced by Rocket Lab announced via X.

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 QPS-SAR-12 satellite enhances iQPS’s SAR constellation, which aims to revolutionize industries by providing high-resolution data for urban safety, security, agriculture, and economic analytics. The constellation’s ability to image through clouds and at night supports continuous near-real-time global monitoring, capable of imaging both stationary and moving objects (e.g., vehicles, ships, livestock) with revisit times of approximately 10 minutes.

"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 'The Harvest Goddess Thrives' mission was the fifth dedicated launch for iQPS, following previous missions named 'The Moon God Awakens,' 'The Lightning God Reigns,' 'The Sea God Sees,' and 'The Mountain God Guards.'