'Owlright, Owlright, Owlright': Watch Rocket Lab launch private Japanese radar satellite tonight

The patch for Rocket Lab's "Owlright, Owlright, Owlright" mission. — (Image credit: Rocket Lab)

Rocket Lab is feeling “owlright” about tonight's launch of a Strix satellite for Japanese company Synspective's imaging constellation.

The mission, called “Owlright, Owlright, Owlright,” is scheduled to lift off aboard an Electron rocket from Pad B at Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand this evening (Sept. 25), at 8:15 p.m. EDT (0015 GMT on Sept. 26). It will be the 13th Strix satellite that Rocket Lab delivers to orbit for Synspective, which is building a constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft to collect Earth imaging data for municipality management efforts around city planning and infrastructure, as well as natural disaster response.

The launch will stream live on Space.com, courtesy of Rocket Lab, as well as on the company's website, beginning about 30 minutes before liftoff.

Owlright, Owlright, Owlright will be Rocket Lab's 96th launch overall, and its 18th so far in 2026. This mission will bring Electron’s 2026 total to 15, with three other launches this year of Rocket Lab’s suborbital HASTE rocket rounding out the sum.

Electron is Rocket Lab's workhorse launch vehicle. It stands 59 feet tall (18 meters), and sports a launch capacity to low Earth orbit (LEO) up to 661 pounds (300 kilograms). Synspective’s Strix spacecraft weigh about 220 pounds (100 kg) each, and expand to a lengthy 16.4 feet (5 meters) wide after SAR antenna deployment.

The patch for Rocket Lab's &quot;Owlright, Owlright, Owlright&quot; mission. — The patch for Rocket Lab's "Owlright, Owlright, Owlright" mission. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)

Rocket Lab has committed to launching the entirety of Synspective’s Strix constellation, which aims to deliver 30 spacecraft to LEO by the end of the decade. Living up to their namesake — Strix is a genus of owl — the SAR satellites are designed to collect Earth-observation data even in poor lighting conditions, and can peer through cloud cover to study the ground below.

As the constellation expands, each Strix satellite has been delivered to a slightly different orbital destination. If all goes according to plan, Electron will launch the Owlright, Owlright, Owlright payload into a 37-degree orbital inclination, for deployment at a LEO altitude of 347 miles (559 kilometers).

Wet Dress Rehearsal DONE ✅ Electron is ready for its 97th launch and latest mission from Launch Complex 1.'Owlright Owlright Owlright' launch window opens tomorrow:🚀12:15pm NZST, Sept 26🚀00:15 UTC, Sept 26🚀9:15 am JST, Sept 26🚀8:15 pm EDT, Sept 25🚀5:15 pm PDT, Sept… pic.twitter.com/ge3Rr7ayevSeptember 25, 2026

Josh Dinner is Space.com's Spaceflight Staff Writer. He is a writer and photographer with a passion for science and space exploration, and has been working the space beat since 2016. Josh has covered the evolution of NASA's Artemis program and humanity's return to the moon, commercial spaceflight partnerships and crewed missions from the Space Coast, NASA science missions and more. He also enjoys building 1:144-scale model rockets and spacecraft. Find some of Josh's launch photography on Instagram, and follow him on X, where he mostly posts in haiku.