When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.Credit: Rocket LabRocket Lab launched its sixth mission for the Japanese Earth-imaging company iQPS this afternoon (Nov. 5) from its seaside pad in New Zealand.An Electron rocket carrying the QPS-SAR-14 satellite, nicknamed Yachihoko-I, lifted off from Rocket Lab’s New Zealand site today at 2:51 p.m. EST (1951 GMT; 8:51 a.m. on Nov. 6. local New Zealand time).AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Electron’s “kick stage” deployed Yachihoko-I as planned today, ejecting it into a circular, 357-mile-high (575 kilometers) orbit about 50 minutes after launch.The view from the second stage of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket during its Nov. 5, 2025 launch, which lofted an Earth-observing satellite for the Japanese company iQPS. The Electron’s first stage is visible falling back to Earth in the distance. | Credit: Rocket Lab”This satellite will join the rest of the QPS-SAR constellation in providing high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and Earth monitoring services globally,” Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description. “iQPS aims to build a constellation of 36 SAR satellites that will provide near-real-time images of Earth every 10 minutes.”Yachihoko-I will be the 13th (not 14th, as it name implies) iQPS satellite to reach orbit to date. Seven members of the growing constellation have flown atop non-Electron rockets to date — India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, Japan’s Epsilon and SpaceX’s Falcon 9, to be specific.A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launches the “Nation God Navigates” mission for Japanese Earth-observing company iQPS from New Zealand on Nov. 5, 2025. | Credit: Rocket LabYachihoko-I takes its name from the Japanese god of nation-building, according to Rocket Lab. That explains the moniker the company gave to today’s mission: “The Nation God Navigates.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementToday’s launch was the 16th of 2025 for Rocket Lab and the company’s 74th overall to date. The vast majority of these have been conducted by the 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron. Rocket Lab also operates a suborbital version of the vehicle known as HASTE (“Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron”), which has flown five times since debuting in June 2023.Editor’s note: This story was updated at 3 p.m. ET on Nov. 5 with news of successful liftoff, then again at 3:58 p.m. ET with news of successful satellite deployment. …
