Rocket Lab had to cancel the liftoff of a Japanese Earth-observation radar satellite moments before departure on Tuesday, postponing efforts to grow Japan’s synthetic aperture radar satellite network. The flight, named ‘The Grain Goddess Provides’, was planned for 9 pm EDT from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand using an Electron rocket. The countdown stopped at the final stage, leaving the vehicle on the pad. Rocket Lab has not revealed the cause of the abort or set a new launch date. The payload is QPS-SAR-13, or Mikura-I, a radar imaging satellite made for the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space. It forms part of a planned 36-satellite constellation in low Earth orbit.
