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QPS-SAR-20 (WADATSUMI-II)

Japanese Commercial SAR Imaging Satellite · iQPS

QPS-SAR-20, nicknamed Wadatsumi-II after the Japanese god of the sea, is a small radar-imaging satellite built by iQPS, a startup in Fukuoka. Rocket Lab's Electron launched it from New Zealand's Māhia Peninsula on November 3, 2026, local time, into the same orbit as its twin Wadatsumi-I, about 355 miles up and tilted 42°. It was the first time iQPS has put a second satellite into one of its orbital planes instead of opening a new one. Two satellites following each other around the same track pass over the same places twice as often, and that's the whole plan: iQPS is building toward 36 satellites that can look at almost anywhere on Earth about every ten minutes. Once in orbit it unfolds a mesh antenna nearly 12 feet across, and because radar brings its own light, it sees through cloud and darkness alike.