Rocket Lab Corporation, a global leader in launch services and space systems, successfully launched its 66th Electron to deploy the latest satellite to orbit for Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, (iQPS) – Rocket Lab’s second launch in less than a month for iQPS and its fourth overall with 100% mission success.
‘The Mountain God Guards’ mission lifted off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand at 15:31 UTC on June 11th to deploy a single synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellite named QPS-SAR-11 (nicknamed YAMATSUMI-I for the Japanese god of mountains) to a 575km circular Earth orbit for iQPS. The mission is the latest in a series of dedicated Electron launches for iQPS to develop its Earth-imaging constellation, providing high-resolution images and Earth monitoring services globally.
With this mission, Electron has now deployed half of iQPS’s constellation of satellites operating in orbit. These include ‘The Moon God Awakens’, which was successfully launched in December 2023; ‘The Lightning God Reigns’, ‘The Sea God Sees’, and now ‘The Mountain God Guards’, each deployed in the first half of 2025. Another four dedicated missions with QPS-SAR satellites are scheduled to launch on Electron across the remainder of this year and 2026, making Rocket Lab the most relied-upon launch provider to accelerate the build-out of iQPS’s constellation with repeatability and precision.
Rocket Lab Founder and CEO, Sir Peter Beck, says: “The Electron team has delivered another flawless launch and satellite deployment for iQPS, for the second time in 25 days – an outstanding display of the reliability and agility that makes Electron the leader in dedicated small launch. The rapid turnaround in launches and precise orbital deployment achieved for this latest iQPS mission is also a fantastic example of the benefits of dedicated launch for constellation deployment on Electron. We’re looking forward to delivering on this again and again for the line-up of Electron launches this year and next in our multi-launch contract with iQPS.
iQPS CEO, Dr. Shunsuke Onishi, says: “Following the successful launch of our 10th satellite, we are deeply grateful to the Rocket Lab team for the smooth deployment of QPS-SAR-11 YAMATSUMI-I into orbit. This achievement is entirely thanks to the Rocket Lab team's ability to deliver precise and agile launches. We are truly pleased to see our satellites being placed into orbit one after another, marking significant progress toward building our satellite constellation. With three more launches planned this year, we will continue to work closely with our partner companies to steadily advance the development and production of our satellites.”
“The Mountain God Guards” was Rocket Lab’s eighth Electron mission of 2025 and its 66th launch overall. Rocket Lab’s next Electron mission is scheduled to launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in just a few days’ time.
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