Rocket Lab launches private Japanese Earth-observing satellite early on Friday (May 22)

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Rocket 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."

Synspective 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 description of Friday's mission.

SAR satellites can peer through cloud cover and observe Earth in all lighting conditions, even darkness. That latter fact may explain the name that Tokyo-based Synspective gave to these satellites — Strix is a widespread genus of owls.

"Viva La Strix" was the ninth mission that Rocket Lab flew for Synspective. And many more are on the docket.

"Rocket Lab has been the sole launch provider for Synspective's constellation since 2020, with another 18 missions booked to deliver the rest of their constellation to orbit before 2030," Rocket Lab wrote in the mission description.

If all goes according to plan following the launch on Friday, Electron will deploy the Strix satellite in low Earth orbit, at an altitude of 355 miles (572 kilometers).

The 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) Electron gives small satellites dedicated rides to Earth orbit and beyond. The rocket debuted with a test flight in May 2017 and has 77 liftoffs under its belt to date.

Rocket Lab has also flown seven missions with a suborbital version of Electron called HASTE, which allows customers to test hypersonic technologies in the space environment.

"Viva La Strix" will be the 78th launch to date for the 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) Electron, which debuted with a test flight in May 2017.