Rocket Lab launched an Earth-observing radar satellite to orbit for the Japanese company iQPS on Wednesday morning (June 11).
An Electron rocket topped with the QPS-SAR-11 spacecraft lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Wednesday at 11:31 a.m. EDT (1531 GMT; 3:31 a.m. on June 12 local New Zealand time).
The Electron did its job, deploying the satellite into a circular orbit 357 miles (575 kilometers) above Earth roughly 51 minutes after launch as planned.
Rocket Lab called this mission "The Mountain God Guards." That's a reference to the QPS-SAR-11 satellite's nickname, Yamatsumi-1, which honors a Japanese god of the mountains.
Yamatsumi-1 will join iQPS' synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation, which views targets on Earth in all weather conditions, day and night.
Source: www.space.com
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