Rocket Lab Schedules First of Multiple Launches for iQPS
Electron's next mission is ready for launch for iQPS
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a global leader in launch services and space systems, announced the launch window for its 61st Electron launch, a dedicated mission for Japanese customer the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS).
The mission, named “The Lightning God Reigns”, will launch from Rocket Lab’s private orbital launch site, Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, in New Zealand during a launch window that opens on March 10th UTC.
The mission will launch a single synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellite to a 575km circular Earth orbit for iQPS called QPS-SAR-9 (nicknamed “SUSANOO-I”). The spacecraft will join iQPS’ growing Earth-imaging constellation that delivers high-resolution monitoring from specific locations every 10 minutes.
“The Lightning God Reigns” is the first of eight upcoming launches for iQPS across 2025 and 2026 to build out iQPS‘s constellation, and follows the Company’s earlier successful mission for iQPS launched in December 2023. Each upcoming mission includes a Rocket Lab Motorized Lightband, used to separate and deploy the satellite from Electron once in space.
“The Lightning God Reigns” will be Rocket Lab’s third mission of 2025, its 61st Electron launch overall, and will bring the total number of satellites delivered to space by Rocket Lab to 211.
“The Lightning God Reigns” launch window timing:
Scheduled to launch no earlier than (NET):
00:00 UTC, March 10th
1:00 pm NZDT, March 10th
8:00 pm Eastern, March 9th
5:00 pm Pacific, March 9th