Rocket Lab Matches 2024 Record with 16th Launch of 2025, Deploying iQPS SAR Satellite

Aerospace firm Rocket Lab successfully launched the YACHIHOKO-I satellite for the Japanese company iQPS on November 5, 2025, marking a significant operational achievement for the launch provider. The mission, designated "The Nation God Navigates," lifted off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B on New Zealand's Māhia Peninsula at 19:51 UTC, placing the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) unit into a stable 575 km circular low Earth orbit.

This deployment represented Rocket Lab's 74th overall Electron mission and its 16th successful flight in the 2025 calendar year, drawing level with the company's annual record established in 2024. The launch was the sixth dedicated Electron flight for the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS), underscoring the growing global reliance on high-cadence, dedicated small satellite deployment services for Earth observation constellations.

Sir Peter Beck, Chief Executive of Rocket Lab, emphasized that the mission's pinpoint accuracy is what clients depend upon as they scale complex satellite constellations. Echoing this, Dr. Shunsuke Onishi, CEO of iQPS, noted that the flawless deployment reflects the continuous maturation of their proprietary technology. This endeavor is a crucial step in iQPS's strategy to build a comprehensive SAR constellation comprising 36 satellites, ultimately aiming to provide near-real-time global Earth imagery updated every ten minutes.

To facilitate this ambitious build-out, Rocket Lab has six further dedicated Electron flights already slated for the iQPS program. The operational tempo achieved by Rocket Lab this year suggests a highly reliable rhythm necessary for constellation builders, moving beyond sporadic missions. The demand for SAR data, which can pierce cloud cover and operate day or night, continues to accelerate across sectors such as disaster response and maritime surveillance, making this consistent deployment cadence a vital component of modern data infrastructure.