{"id":623585,"date":"2026-08-06T13:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/623585\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T13:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:25:14","slug":"rocket-lab-launches-8th-iqps-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/623585\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab launches 8th iQPS satellite"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Rocket Lab launched a Japanese radar-imaging satellite Aug. 6, more than a month after the previous launch attempt was aborted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab\u2019s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 5:18 a.m. Eastern. The rocket\u2019s payload, the QPS-SAR-13 satellite, separated from the upper stage nearly 50 minutes later into a planned circular orbit at an altitude of 575 kilometers and an inclination of 42 degrees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The launch was the first for Rocket Lab since June 26, <a href=\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/rocket-lab-launches-10th-synspective-satellite\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">when it placed a radar-imaging satellite for Synspective into orbit<\/a>. Rocket Lab had planned to launch this mission, called \u201cThe Grain Goddess Provides\u201d by the company, on June 30, but aborted the launch just as Electron\u2019s first-stage engines ignited.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company did not disclose what caused the scrub or the extended delay until this launch. Rocket Lab\u2019s launch webcast did not mention the delay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The customer for this launch was the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, or iQPS, a Japanese company developing a constellation of synthetic aperture radar imaging satellites. This was the eighth Electron launch of an iQPS satellite, with 10 more under contract. Three of those future launches were added in <a href=\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/rocket-lab-wins-another-launch-contract-from-japans-iqps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a contract between the companies announced July 30<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was the 13th Electron launch so far this year, including three launches of HASTE, the suborbital version of Electron. Rocket Lab said its next Electron launch, again for iQPS, is planned for no earlier than late August from Launch Complex 1.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/author\/jeff-foust\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"120\" height=\"120\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jeff_foust-1-150x150.jpg\" class=\"avatar avatar-120 photo wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews.&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nHe earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor\u2019s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science&#8230;\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/author\/jeff-foust\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Jeff Foust\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Rocket Lab launched a Japanese radar-imaging satellite Aug. 6, more than a month after the previous&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[270],"tags":[18,8304,19,74735,17,2966,133,3977,451],"class_list":["post-623585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-eire","tag-electron","tag-ie","tag-iqps","tag-ireland","tag-rocket-lab","tag-science","tag-sn","tag-space"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117048792794407508","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}