"The Owl's Night Continues" Mission for Synspective Takes Off

Rocket Lab USA announced the successful deployment of their most recent mission after placing a Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite into orbit from the Mahia, New Zealand launch complex. 

The satellite will join the Synspective constellation above in order to offer clients ground survey and imaging from above with a resolution as tight as 1 meter at a swath width of anywhere from 10 to 30 kilometers. The company hopes to have at least 6 satellites in their nascent constellation by 2023, with at least 30 by decade's end. Once in place, they anticipate being able to task and retrieve imaging anywhere on earth within a 2 hour time frame. Their StriX-β reached its targeted sun-synchronous orbit in the early hours of March 1st, about 350 miles up. The mission was the first of 3 in the "Owl's..." series, with follow-ons to come. 

Synspective CEO Motoyuki Arai announced the successful placement to investors, saying the company is in on-pace for their coverage targets.

“We thank both Rocket Lab and Synspective members for their diligence and teamwork to successfully put StriX-β into orbit promptly despite unforeseen circumstances and challenges due to the ongoing pandemic. With the successful insertion of our second SAR satellite, we will be able to improve our technology for operating multiple satellites and strengthen our data services. With this achievement, we will accelerate the expansion of a thirty SAR satellite constellation and enhance our data analysis technology to realize a “learning world” for a sustainable future.”

FMI: www.rocketlabusa.com, www.synspective.com