The Electron rocket carried a StriX satellite to low Earth orbit as part of Synspective’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation. Liftoff happened on Saturday, Aug. 3, at 4:39 a.m. NZT (Friday, Aug. 2, at 12:39 p.m. EDT, 1639 UTC).
The mission will the third launch for Rocket Lab this year and the fourth to date as part of a multi-launch contract with Synspective. Liftoff from Rocket Lab Launch Complex-1 in Mahia, New Zealand is set for 4:03 a.m. NZDT on March 13 (11:03 a.m. EDT, 1503 UTC on March 12).
Rocket Lab’s seventh and final launch of the year delivered a small radar observation satellite into orbit for Synspective, a Japanese startup planning a fleet of 30 or more Earth-imaging spacecraft providing day-and-night imagery of cities around the world.
Rocket Lab launched a radar imaging satellite Tuesday for the Japanese company Synspective. The small Earth observation payload lifted off from New Zealand at 5:09 a.m. EST (1009 GMT) aboard an Electron rocket. Rocket Lab did not attempt to recover the Electron’s first stage on this mission.