When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.Credit: Rocket LabRocket Lab launched an Earth-observing radar satellite for the Japanese company Synspective early Friday morning (May 22).An Electron rocket carrying one of Synspective’s Strix satellites blasted off from Rocket Lab’s New Zealand site on Friday at 5:33 a.m. EDT (0933 GMT; 9:33 p.m. local New Zealand time), on a mission called “Viva La Strix.”AdvertisementAdvertisementEverything went according to plan: Electron deployed the Strix satellite in low Earth orbit, at an altitude of about 355 miles (572 kilometers), according to the company.The patch for Rocket Lab’s “Viva La Strix” mission. | Credit: Rocket LabSynspective is building out a “synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging constellation over Japan that provides data for urban development planning, construction and infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response,” Rocket Lab wrote in a
