iQPS (Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space)

commercialFounded 2005

Japan

Verified facts grounded in source documentation.

Rocket Lab successfully launched their "The Wisdom God Guides" mission with iQPS' QPS-SAR-15 satellite named "SUKUNAMI-I."

TECHNICAL PRODUCT12/21/2025Rocket Lab successfully launched their "The Wisdom God Guides" mission with iQPS' QPS-SAR-15 satellite named "SUKUNAMI-I" earlier today. This was their 21st and final launch of the year, breaking their previous launch record of 16 by more then 30%!

iQPS plans to expand its constellation to 36 SAR satellites, enabling coverage of Earth's surface every ten minutes.

NARRATIVE GROWTH10/22/2025Rocket Lab sets November launch for next iQPS Earth-imaging satellite

iQPS has successfully launched previous missions named 'The Lightning God Reigns', 'The Sea God Sees', 'The Mountain God Guards', and 'The Harvest Goddess Thrives' in 2025.

TECHNICAL PRODUCT10/20/2025Rocket Lab’s next Electron Launch will be the 6th mission for iQPS

Rocket Lab has successfully launched five missions for Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc.

TECHNICAL PRODUCT10/7/2025RT by @Cosmic_Penguin: We’ve signed another Electron multi-launch agreement: three dedicated missions for Japan-based Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (@iQPS_Inc)! With five missions successfully launched and another four already on Electron’s manifest, this latest bulk buy brings the total number of upcoming missions for iQPS to seven – and makes Rocket Lab the primary launch provider to deploy iQPS’ commercial Earth-imaging constellation. More info: http://bit.ly/4o7a2hd

iQPS plans to deploy a group of 36 small SAR satellites that together will provide Earth observation data to support tasks such as disaster management and land and infrastructure surveying.

NARRATIVE GROWTH10/22/2024Silicon Sensing celebrates its IMU’s fourth year on the iQPS’ small SAR satellite

The Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS) went public in December 2023 to support efforts to deploy a constellation of synthetic aperture radar imaging satellites.

NARRATIVE FINANCIAL5/1/2024Astroscale to go public on Tokyo exchange

Rocket Lab returned the Electron to flight on 2023-12-14 and successfully launched a radar imaging satellite for the Japanese company iQPS.

TECHNICAL PRODUCT4/16/2024Unforgiving Failures: the challenges of upper stages

iQPS went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on 2023-12-06 and raised $24,000,000 to support development of a synthetic aperture radar imaging satellite constellation.

NARRATIVE FINANCIAL12/27/2023Axelspace raises $44 million for Earth observation and other smallsats

Rocket Lab successfully launched its 42nd Electron rocket and deployed a satellite for the Japan-based Earth imaging company the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS).

TECHNICAL PRODUCT12/18/2023Rocket Lab Sets New Annual Launch Record with Successful Launch of SAR Satellite for iQPS

Rocket Lab successfully launched the QPS-SAR-5 (Tsukuyomi-1) radar imaging satellite for Japanese company iQPS on an Electron rocket.

TECHNICAL PRODUCT12/15/2023Electron returns to flight with successful launch of Japanese radar imaging satellite

iQPS went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on 2023-12-06 and raised about $24,000,000.

NARRATIVE FINANCIAL12/15/2023Electron returns to flight with successful launch of Japanese radar imaging satellite

iQPS (Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space) is developing a constellation of 36 satellites to provide synthetic aperture radar imagery.

NARRATIVE GENERAL12/15/2023Electron returns to flight with successful launch of Japanese radar imaging satellite

Virgin Orbit expects to launch QPS-SAR-5 on LauncherOne into a tailored, mid-inclination orbit to expand iQPS’s constellation coverage and revisit rate.

NARRATIVE GROWTH5/10/2022Virgin Orbit To Launch The QPS-SAR-5 Satellite

iQPS plans to expand the surface area of parabolic antennas, increase satellite observation time of targets of interest, widen imagery swath, speed the flow of data from satellites to the ground, and equip satellites launched after Izanami with propulsion systems.

NARRATIVE GROWTH9/30/2020Japan’s iQPS to update technology for future radar satellites

Japan’s Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS) plans to operate a 36-satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation by 2025 to gather data and imagery with one-meter resolution of almost any point in the world within 10 minutes and to conduct fixed-point observations of particular areas once every 10 minutes.

NARRATIVE GENERAL9/30/2020Japan’s iQPS to update technology for future radar satellites

iQPS plans to operate 36 synthetic aperture radar satellites by 2025 to observe almost any point in the world in approximately 10 minutes and conduct fixed-point observations once every 10 minutes.

NARRATIVE GENERAL9/24/2020SAR Renaissance: Pandemic slows but doesn’t stop constellation progress