Posted: Sun, Apr 19, 2020, 10:25 AM ET (1425 GMT)
A Japanese synthetic aperture radar (SAR) startup will launch its first satellite with Rocket Lab rather than Arianespace. Rocket Lab announced Tuesday it signed a contract to launch the first Synspective SAR satellite on an Electron rocket late this year. Synspective, which has raised $100 million for a constellation of about 25 such satellites, originally planned to launch that first satellite on a Vega rideshare mission. Synspective said that it switched to rocket lab "as a result of adjusting the launch timing and the orbit of the satellite," and would fly a future satellite on Vega instead.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  Rocket Lab press release