The international space company Rocket Lab successfully launched its 21st Electron mission of the year Sunday, ending 2025 with a 100% success rate for its small-lift rocket program.
“The Wisdom God Guides” lifted off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 1:36 a.m. EDT, and deployed the QPS-SAR-15 into low-Earth orbit for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, a Japanese space company.
The spacecraft will provide nearly real time satellite imagery across a dozen different orbits for Q-shu’s global customers.
The company said this and future missions will work in the domestic civil space and international sectors of space agencies in Japan and Europe, and provide defense, hypersonic technology and national security services for its customers.
Rocket Lab launched its first mission for iQPS in 2023 and has since deployed seven satellites for the company’s constellation. The Japanese space company has another five launches scheduled for 2026, via Rocket Lab spacecraft.
The “Wisdom God Guides” mission was the Rocket Lab’s 79th Electron launch. The next is scheduled to lift off in the first quarter of 2026, the company said. The Electron is among the world’s most frequently launched small rockets, according to Rocket Lab.