Rocket Lab will launch the Japanese radar satellite SUSANOO-II
Rocket Lab plans to launch the Japanese Earth observation satellite SUSANOO-II from a launch site in New Zealand on August 20. The Electron rocket is scheduled to launch during a launch window opening at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time—1:00 p.m. GMT—and at 1:00 a.m. on August 21 local time in New Zealand.
The satellite belongs to the Tokyo-based company iQPS. This will be Rocket Lab’s ninth launch for this customer, which is building a constellation of 36 synthetic aperture radar satellites in low Earth orbit, according to Space.com.
Synthetic-aperture radar satellites are capable of observing Earth day and night and capturing images through cloud cover. Rocket Lab stated that the iQPS network is being deployed to provide users in various countries with high-resolution, near-real-time radar imagery.
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The mission has been named “The Lightning God Defends.” The name is linked to SUSANOO-II, which is named after the Japanese god of lightning. According to the plan, the Electron upper stage is scheduled to release the satellite approximately 50 minutes after launch at an altitude of 575 kilometers.
This flight is set to be Rocket Lab’s 14th launch in 2026 and the 93rd in the company’s history. The previous mission, conducted on August 6, also delivered the iQPS satellite into low Earth orbit. Rocket Lab plans to begin a live broadcast approximately 30 minutes before launch.
