Rocket Lab 100th Electron Launch Explained: The Mountain God Rises Lifts Off 11 AM IST on 14 November
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Illustrative image: an Electron rocket lifts off — the same vehicle flying the 100th mission. Image: NASA / Rocket Lab, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
Update — 14 November 2026, 1:15 PM IST — SUCCESS: Rocket Lab's 100th Electron launch lifted off on time at 11:00 AM IST today (6:30 p.m. NZDT) from Launch Complex 1, New Zealand, and deployed the YAMATSUMI-II synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japan's iQPS into a 575 km low Earth orbit. Rocket Lab confirmed mission success, calling Electron the fastest commercially developed rocket to reach 100 launches. This was iQPS's 11th dedicated Electron flight, all successful since 2023, and iQPS has booked seven more through 2030.
📌 KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- 100th Electron launch: "The Mountain God Rises" is targeted for no earlier than Saturday 14 November 2026, with the window opening at 6:30pm NZDT — 11:00 AM IST.
- Payload: one QPS-SAR radar satellite for Japan's iQPS, bound for a 575 km low Earth orbit at 42° inclination — iQPS's 11th dedicated Electron flight.
- The road to 100: Electron has flown 99 times since 2017. It took seven years to reach 50 launches — and just two more to reach 100.
- Record year: the flight is also Electron's 21st launch of 2026, tying its busiest year (21 missions in 2025).
- Earnings tonight: Rocket Lab reports Q3 2026 results after the US market closes today, 9 November, with a call at 5pm ET.
What happened?
Rocket Lab has set the date for its 100th Electron launch. The mission, named "The Mountain God Rises", is scheduled for no earlier than Saturday 14 November 2026 from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Māhia Peninsula, carrying a single QPS-SAR satellite for Japan's Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS) into a 575 km low Earth orbit.
Rocket Lab's own mission page calls the flight "an unprecedented milestone for a commercial small-lift orbital rocket and a threshold rarely crossed in modern spaceflight", adding that over its 99 missions to date, Electron has "rewritten the playbook when it comes to launch for small satellites". The 100th Electron left the factory on 29 October — Rocket Lab marked the moment on X with the words "Triple digits unlocked".
The flight before it, "The Sea God Surveys", flew on 3 November 2026 at 5:41am NZDT, carrying the WADATSUMI-II radar satellite. That was Electron's 99th flight, its 20th mission of 2026, and its 10th dedicated launch for iQPS — all with a 100% mission-success record for that customer.
The road to 100
Electron's climb to triple digits took nine years, and the pace has quickened sharply. Rocket Lab put it plainly after the 99th flight: it took seven years to reach 50 launches, and just two years to add the next 50.
| Milestone | Date | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| First Electron flight | May 2017 | Test flight "It's a Test" — the rocket's debut |
| Commercial service begins | November 2018 | Electron enters regular commercial service |
| 50th launch | 2024 | Seven years after the first flight |
| 98th launch | 23 October 2026 | "We're Not Hawking Around" — three HawkEye 360 satellites, 19th flight of 2026 |
| 99th launch | 3 November 2026 | "The Sea God Surveys" — WADATSUMI-II for iQPS, 20th flight of 2026 |
| 100th launch | NET 14 November 2026 | "The Mountain God Rises" — QPS-SAR for iQPS, 21st flight of 2026 |
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Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Māhia Peninsula, the launch site for the 100th flight. Image: Wikimedia Commons / Grumpy Eye, CC BY-SA 2.0.
What the satellite does
The payload is a QPS-SAR satellite — a radar imager, not an optical camera. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sees through cloud cover and works in darkness, which is why iQPS's constellation is aimed at disaster response, environmental monitoring and maritime tracking, where waiting for a clear sky is not an option.
iQPS, based in Fukuoka, is building a 36-spacecraft SAR constellation designed to image nearly any point on Earth at roughly ten-minute intervals. Its satellites weigh about 100 kg and unfold a 3.6-metre antenna once in orbit — a fraction of the mass of a traditional military radar satellite. Rocket Lab is the primary launcher for the constellation, and eight more dedicated iQPS flights are booked to complete it by 2030.
Electron itself is a two-stage small rocket powered by 3D-printed Rutherford engines, built to give small satellites a dedicated ride instead of waiting for a spare slot on a large rocket. That dedicated-launch model is the reason a 100 kg radar satellite can fly on its own schedule — and why Electron has become the workhorse of the small-satellite era.
Why 100 matters
No other commercial small-lift rocket has reached 100 launches. The number is also a proxy for reliability and cadence: 20 Electron flights in 2026 before this one, a record pace, with the 100th tying the company's busiest year — 21 missions in 2025.
The milestone lands in a week of mixed news for Rocket Lab. Its bigger Neutron rocket was delayed to 2027 after engineers found air pockets in the carbon-composite layers of a first-stage tank dome, and the company reports third-quarter results after the US market closes today, 9 November, with a call at 5pm ET. Shares rose 16% on Friday in a broad tech and space rebound ahead of the print. The 100th flight is the counterweight: the small rocket that pays the bills is flying at a pace its larger sibling has not yet reached.
For Indian readers, the timing is unusually convenient: the window opens at 11:00 AM IST on a Saturday, making this one of the easiest rocket milestones to watch live. It is also a busy week overhead — SpaceX's classified USSF-627 mission lifts off at 8:33 AM IST on Tuesday 10 November, and Starship Flight 15 targets Friday 13 November with the first attempt to catch both stages.
How to watch from India
The launch window opens at 6:30pm NZDT on Saturday 14 November. Rocket Lab streams Electron launches live on its website and on X, with the webcast linked from the mission page.
| Time zone | Window opens |
|---|---|
| New Zealand (NZDT) | 6:30pm, Saturday 14 November |
| UTC | 05:30, Saturday 14 November |
| Japan (JST) | 2:30pm, Saturday 14 November |
| India (IST) | 11:00 AM, Saturday 14 November |
| US East (EST) | 12:30am, Saturday 14 November |
| US West (PST) | 9:30pm, Friday 13 November |
The date is "no earlier than" — it can slip for weather or technical reasons, as Electron dates sometimes do. If it slips, the milestone stays the same; only the day changes.
Should you care?
FAQs
When is Rocket Lab's 100th Electron launch?
No earlier than Saturday 14 November 2026. The window opens at 6:30pm NZDT, which is 11:00 AM IST, 05:30 UTC and 2:30pm JST. The date can slip for weather or technical reasons.
What is "The Mountain God Rises"?
The mission name for Electron's 100th flight. It carries one QPS-SAR radar satellite for Japan's iQPS to a 575 km low Earth orbit at 42° inclination, from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.
How many times has Electron launched?
99 times. The first test flight was in May 2017 and commercial service began in November 2018. It took seven years to reach 50 launches and just two more to reach 100.
What does the QPS-SAR satellite do?
It images Earth with radar, which sees through clouds and works at night. iQPS is building a 36-satellite constellation for near-real-time imaging, aimed at disaster response, environmental monitoring and maritime tracking.
Takeaway
Electron went from a test flight in 2017 to 100 launches in nine years — seven years to reach 50, two years for the next 50. Saturday's flight is the marker of a small rocket that became the small-satellite industry's workhorse.
Set a reminder for 11 AM IST on Saturday and watch the webcast on Rocket Lab's site — or catch up on the flight before it in our Rocket Lab Electron 99th launch explainer. Related: SpaceX USSF-627 launch time in India and SpaceX Starship Flight 15 launch date.
Sources
- Rocket Lab — "The Mountain God Rises" mission page (primary source: date, time, site, payload, orbit, 100th-launch milestone)
- Space and Defense — Rocket Lab completes 99th Electron launch for iQPS SAR satellite
- TechTimes — Rocket Lab Targets 100th Electron Launch After iQPS Radar Mission Monday
- The Hamberger Report — Orbital Milestones: The Hundredth Is a Count, Not a Date
- Astronomy.com — Rocket launches this week (100th flight, NET 14 November)
- ad-hoc-news — Rocket Lab Q3 results due 9 November, 100th Electron launch set for 14 November
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