You can watch it live via Rocket Lab<\/a> beginning at about 5:00 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT). Space.com will carry the feed if, as expected, the company makes it available.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n \n The patch for Rocket Lab’s “Viva La Strix” mission. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)<\/p>\n Synspective is building out a “synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging constellation over Japan that provides data for urban development planning, construction and infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response,” Rocket Lab wrote in a description of Friday’s mission<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SAR satellites can peer through cloud cover and observe Earth<\/a> in all lighting conditions, even darkness. That latter fact may explain the name that Tokyo-based Synspective gave to these satellites \u2014 Strix is a widespread genus of owls.<\/p>\n “Viva La Strix” will be the ninth mission that Rocket Lab flies for Synspective. And many more are on the docket.<\/p>\n “Rocket Lab has been the sole launch provider for Synspective’s constellation since 2020, with another 18 missions booked to deliver the rest of their constellation to orbit before 2030,” Rocket Lab wrote in the mission description.<\/p>\n If all goes according to plan on Friday, Electron will deploy the Strix satellite in low Earth orbit<\/a>, at an altitude of 355 miles (572 kilometers).<\/p>\n The 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) Electron gives small satellites dedicated rides to Earth orbit and beyond. The rocket debuted with a test flight in May 2017 and has 77 liftoffs under its belt to date.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/rboYuZ8heEZzqCCm8naU85.jpg\")
\n<\/p>\n![\"Space\"](\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/media\/img\/spc-logo-w.svg\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n