IHI Aerospace (IA) – the defence division of Japanese engineering corporation IHI Corporation – has signed a contract for the launch of two earth observation satellites later this year in its first commercial launch order.
The two synthetic aperture Rader (SAR) satellites, QPS-SAR-3 and QPS-SAR-4, owned by Q-Shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS), will be launched from Uchinoura Space Center in Kyushu, Japan by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Epsilon flight number six. Currently being built by iQPS and a collection of Japanese partners QPS-SAR-3 and QPS-SAR-4 will be used to monitor the surface of the Earth and provide high-resolution images. According to the company, its QPS-SAR-2 (Izanami) satellite achieved a resolution of 0.7 m in May 2021 – the highest achieved by a commercial small SAR satellite in Japan.
The directors of IHI Aerospace and the Institute for Q-Shu Pioneers of Space announced the order on 19 April 2022. Courtesy of IHI Corporation
The news marks the first commercial launch order, officially made on 18 April 2022, for Tokyo-based IA which added that it plans to “accelerate” its launch services beyond governmental and civil satellite missions, and into commercial missions.
IHI Corporation recorded revenue of Japanese yen ¥1.1trn (US$10.1bn) for the year ended 31 March 2021.
