Rocket Lab Launch Complex, Mahia Peninsula, LC-1B (New Zealand)
Launch date:
20 August 2026 at 13:04:45 UTC
Status:
Success
Launch description
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launched the "The Lightning God Defends" mission on Thursday, August 20, 2026 at 1:04 PM (UTC).
Missions
QPS-SAR-18 (Susanoo-II):
Electron deployed iQPS's QPS-SAR-18 (SUSANOO-II) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Earth-imaging satellite to a 575 km circular low Earth orbit for the QPS-SAR constellation. It was the ninth QPS-SAR satellite deployed by Rocket Lab's Electron.