<\/p>\n
\nRocket Lab mission about to launch at M\u0101hia in 2024.
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Rocket Lab\n<\/p>\n
A group of satellites that Rocket Lab has helped put into space is poised to aid Ukraine’s military in the war with Russia.<\/p>\n
Rocket Lab USA launched its third mission for Japanese company iQPS at the weekend from its spaceport on M\u0101hia Peninsula.<\/p>\n
It has been widely reported Japan has agreed to provide Ukraine’s military intelligence agency<\/a> for the first time with advanced synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery from satellites run by iQPS (Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space).<\/p>\n “Another fantastic launch by the Electron team to flawlessly deliver another iQPS mission to orbit,” Rocket Lab founder Sir Peter Beck said<\/a> on 17 May.<\/p>\n Ukraine has been buying commercial satellite imagery<\/a> since the war began but ramped up its quest for it early this year after the Trump Administration temporarily suspended its official satellite imagery support for Kiev.<\/p>\n SAR can see through clouds to map two- or three-dimensional images.<\/p>\n Last year, a Finnish start-up ICEYE, that operated the largest constellation of 48 SAR satellites, provided two-fifths of the targeting data used by Ukrainian intelligence for high-profile strikes<\/a> on Russian logistics hubs.<\/p>\n Based at Kyushu University, iQPS had five SAR observation satellites in orbit, and was aiming for three dozen; two of these were launched<\/a> from M\u0101hia in December 2023 and March this year.<\/p>\n