Japanese newspace company, iQPS Inc, has contracted with American launch provider Virgin Orbit for the launch of its fifth satellite. iQPS is building a 36 unit fleet of SAR-equipped (Synthetic Aperture Radar) small satellites to provide high-resolution imagery with low revisit times. This mission is planned to take place as soon as “early 2023”.
Virgin Orbit will launch the satellite using its air-launched LauncherOne rocket which is deployed from a modified Boeing 747 aircraft.