by Riko Seibo
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jun 18, 2024
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) announced a ten-launch agreement with Japanese Earth observation company Synspective. The deal, the largest in Rocket Lab's history for its Electron launch vehicle, was announced in Tokyo with Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck, Synspective founder and CEO Dr. Motoyuki Arai, and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in attendance.
Rocket Lab has been the exclusive launch provider for Synspective since 2020, with four missions completed. The company first launched Synspective's synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite, which can detect millimeter-level changes on Earth's surface from space. Since then, Rocket Lab has deployed four StriX satellites for Synspective. The new agreement includes ten more launches from 2025 to 2027, along with two additional launches scheduled for this year from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.
By launching as the sole payload on Electron, Synspective gains control over the launch schedule and deployment parameters for each satellite, optimizing their constellation's coverage.
"We are honored that the Synspective team has once again entrusted Rocket Lab with the deployment of their constellation and we're proud to be their launch partner for another ten missions, our largest launch agreement to date," said Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck. "Japan's space industry is one of the fastest growing globally and we're excited to be enabling this growth through the unique collaboration of a U.S. rocket and a New Zealand launch site, delivering an unprecedented level of tailored access to orbit for Japanese small satellites."
Synspective founder and CEO, Dr. Motoyuki Arai, stated: "We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Rocket Lab to launch 10 new satellites. This agreement gives us a solid foundation and confidence, as Rocket Lab is an innovative launch provider. We look to accelerate building our satellite constellation and expand our services in the future. We appreciate Rocket Lab's significant role in moving our business forward.
"We will continue to build an analytics platform that enables visualization and analysis of global environmental and economic activities, starting with constructing a SAR satellite constellation. These efforts will help make human activities sustainable for our generation and address the challenges of a changing global environment and depleting resources."
Rt Hon Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister of New Zealand, commented: "New Zealand innovation in space technology is rapidly putting our country on the map in this fast-growing industry. I am very pleased to witness the signing of this significant contract during my first visit to Japan as Prime Minister - it is a clear demonstration of the many opportunities to grow trade and prosperity between our two nations. Collaboration with international partners is critical to enabling our space industry to maximise its potential on the global stage."
+ detecting anomalies in road, rail, energy and other infrastructure, resulting in lower maintenance costs and accident risk,
+ monitoring crop growth conditions and analyzing soil and vegetation health to help reduce costs and increase efficiency for farmers,
+ detecting illegal logging and fishing in the most remote parts of the world,
+ providing rapid damage assessment after flooding, landslides and volcanic eruptions, as well as risk assessment for land subsidence,
+ enabling the persistent monitoring of maritime traffic, border activities and other potential security threats, and advances maritime domain awareness,
+ analyzing tree cover to calculate CO2 absorption and carbon credits.
Related Links
Rocket Lab
Rocket Science News at Space-Travel.Com