Rocket Lab deployed the WADATSUMI-II radar-imaging satellite for Japan’s iQPS on Electron’s 99th flight. The mission lifted off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 5:41 a.m. local time on November 3, 2026, corresponding to 16:41 UTC on November 2.
Named “The Sea God Surveys,” the mission delivered its payload to a 575-kilometer low Earth orbit. Rocket Lab said the orbital inclination was selected to improve iQPS’s revisit coverage over the Asia-Pacific region. Revisit coverage describes how frequently the satellite system can return to observe a location.
The flight was Rocket Lab’s 20th mission of 2026 and its tenth consecutive successful launch for iQPS. It adds another spacecraft to the operator’s QPS-SAR Earth-observation constellation.
Radar Imaging From a Small Spacecraft
Synthetic aperture radar, abbreviated SAR, transmits microwave signals toward Earth and processes their returning echoes into images. Because the instrument supplies its own illumination, it can collect observations at night. Microwave sensing also allows imaging through cloud cover.
The synthetic aperture comes from combining measurements collected as the spacecraft moves. Processing those signals produces the resolving capability of a much larger antenna than the physical antenna alone would provide.
iQPS’s published QPS-SAR design uses a deployable antenna that expands from approximately 80 centimeters across in its launch configuration to 3.6 meters in orbit. The company developed that folding structure to accommodate a large radar antenna on a spacecraft in the 100-kilogram class.
Its product specifications describe two imaging modes. Stripmap mode observes an extended strip along the satellite’s path. Spotlight mode concentrates observations on a smaller area to produce finer detail. iQPS lists a 7-by-7-kilometer scene and 0.46-meter resolution in both dimensions for its spotlight product.
Those published figures describe the QPS-SAR product offering. The November launch announcement establishes WADATSUMI-II’s orbital deployment.
Additional Launches Under Contract
Rocket Lab reports that eight further dedicated Electron launches are booked to support the constellation through 2030. iQPS has also signed a separate agreement with MaiaSpace for launch opportunities beginning in 2029, covering additional mission configurations and orbits as the Japanese operator expands its network.
