RAISE and Shine

The RAISE-4 satellite is scheduled to be launched by Rocket Lab's Electron rocket from the first launch facility on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.

At 03:07–03:09 UTC on December 14, 2025, Rocket Lab confirmed payload deployment for Electron's 77th launch, releasing JAXA's RAISE-4 satellite to a 540 km low Earth orbit.

The RAISE-4 press kit lists an orbital altitude of 540 km, an inclination of 97.5°, and a mass of approximately 110 kg for the RAISE-4 satellite.

Following the launch and deployment, Rocket Lab completed its mission activities and JAXA proceeded to conduct commissioning of RAISE-4.

As of October 10, 2025, JAXA decided to send the RAISE-4 satellite to launch on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from New Zealand with a NET date of November 25, 2025.

As of October 10, 2025, six of the eight payloads on RAISE-4 were re-flights of payloads originally planned on RAISE-3.

The first launch is scheduled for December 2025 and will deploy JAXA’s RApid Innovative payload demonstration SatellitE-4 (RAISE-4) spacecraft.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch the Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration 4 (RAISE-4) mission comprising four small demonstration satellite units and eight CubeSats from November 25 to December 24, 2025.

Rocket Lab launched the 'Raise and Shine' mission on December 15, 2025, carrying a demonstration of orbital debris mitigation technology developed by Axelspace.

Rocket Lab's Electron successfully launched the Raise-4 satellite belonging to the Japanese space agency JAXA on December 15, 2025.

The 'Raise and Shine' mission carried an orbital debris mitigation demonstration project developed by Axelspace.