Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Rocket Lab launched a synthetic aperture radar satellite dubbed QPS-SAR-12 for the Japanese company IQS on Tuesday morning, part of a mission to build its constellation in low Earth Orbit.
The mission "The Harvest Goddess Thrives" lifted off from Rocket Lab's launch complex 1 at the New Zealand site at 12:10 a.m. EDT.
The deployed satellite went into circular orbit 357 miles above Earth after about 54 minutes, Rocket Lab said on X.
"Every Electron launch is a demonstration of payload deployment precision for our customers -- an especially critical element when scaling satellite constellations," Rocket Lab Founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck said in a press release. Today's fifth and flawless deployment for iQPS once again underscores Electron's reliability and continues to prove that consistent tailored access to space is a reality for Electron for our customers."
"The data gathered by QPS-SAR constellation has the potential to revolutionize industries and reshape the future," Rocket Lab wrote in the mission's press release.
