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• Rocket Lab launched its third mission for iQPS from Māhia Peninsula, aiding Ukraine’s military.
• Japan agreed to provide Ukraine with advanced synthetic aperture radar imagery from iQPS satellites.
• Ukraine increased its satellite imagery purchases after the US temporarily suspended official support.

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A group of satellites that Rocket Lab has helped put into space is poised to aid Ukraine’s military in the war with Russia.

Rocket Lab USA launched its third mission for Japanese company iQPS at the weekend from its spaceport on Mahia Peninsula.

It has been widely reported that Japan has agreed to provide Ukraine’s military intelligence agency for the first time with advanced synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery from satellites run by iQPS (Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space).

“Another fantastic launch by the Electron team to flawlessly deliver another iQPS mission to orbit,” Rocket Lab founder Sir Peter Beck said on May 17.

Ukraine has been buying commercial satellite imagery since the war began but ramped up its quest for it early this year after the Trump Administration temporarily suspended its official satellite imagery support for Kyiv.

SAR can see through clouds to map two- or three-dimensional images.

Last year, a Finnish start-up ICEYE, that operated the largest constellation of 48 SAR satellites, provided two-fifths of the targeting data used by Ukrainian intelligence for high-profile strikes on Russian logistics hubs.

Based at Kyushu University, iQPS had five SAR observation satellites in orbit, and was aiming for three dozen. Two of these were launched from Māhia in December 2023 and March this year.

- RNZ