Japan's 'Owl' Spy Satellites In Orbit

The StriX name comes from Strix Uralensis, the scientific name of the Ural owl, which is common in Japan and ranges across Russia to Scandinavia.“Owls,” Synspective notes,“have highly developed hearing and vision, allowing them to forage even in total darkness. Being able to see at night is also an important feature of SAR satellites. The satellite's extended antenna, reminiscent of bird wings, further underscores this connection to its namesake.”

In 2024, the sixth StriX satellite was launched by Rocket Lab and a 10 Electron launch contract was signed with Rocket Lab for 2025-27. Synspective also began mass production of SAR satellites at its Yamato Technology Center in Kanagawa Prefecture west of Yokohama.

Built in collaboration with Japanese manufacturers Tokyo Keiki and Seiren, the Yamato factory is designed to produce 12 satellites per year, which should enable Synspective to reach its goal of launching constellation of 30 small SAR satellites by the late 2020s.

Tokyo Keiki produces microwave power amplifier modules for Synspective satellites. Seiren is a precision textile manufacturer that has expanded into electronics and the production of micro-satellites.

In 2025, representatives of the US military, Department of State, NGA (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) and NASA visited the Yamato Technology Center. The most prominent of these visitors was the commander of the US Space Force, Japan.

In March 2025, Synspective established a subsidiary in Colorado (two, actually, a holding company and an operating company). In April, Ronda Schrenk, CEO of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, and Mike Edwards, CEO of defense contractor AOC Global Services, were appointed to Synspective USA's board of directors.

The seventh StriX SAR satellite, the“Owl New World” mission was launched last October and deployed in December.

Synspective also has a subsidiary in Singapore, established in 2021, that oversees the company's activities in Asia-Pacific and Eastern Europe. These include collaboration with SATIM, a Polish developer of AI-based Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) using SAR imagery. SATIM's algorithms have been integrated into Synspective's analytical platform, improving detection and classification of target objects.

Synspective's SAR satellite is in the 100kg class. Although its weight is about a tenth of the weight of a conventional large SAR satellite, it equals the performance of large SAR satellites, according to Synspective. Accounting for development and launch expenses, it costs about a twentieth as much.

Synspective's SAR satellites can obtain data covering over 1,000km² with 1m-3m resolution anywhere in the world. Synspective provides SAR data and remote monitoring services, plus cloud-based analytics, to government agencies and companies worldwide for purposes of disaster response, environmental monitoring and, of course, national security.

In July 2024, Synspective announced that it had acquired images with a 25cm azimuth resolution, the highest resolution achieved by a Japanese company, during a test observation in the new Staring Spotlight Mode, which continuously illuminates a specific spot on the ground surface to obtain high-resolution images.

“Azimuth resolution,” according to ScienceDirect,“is defined as the measure of the ability of a radar system to distinguish between two targets located in the direction parallel to the flight path.”

Synspective's Mission Statement begins hopefully, saying it intends to“create a new infrastructure that enables the next generation to understand our Earth and achieve a resilient future” – but then gets to the point:

Synspective's senior executives are members of Japan's project management and space engineering elite. CEO Motoyuki Arai is a former business consultant with a PhD in Technology Management from the University of Tokyo who has experience leading energy and other infrastructure projects in Asia, the Middle East and Africa and in disaster-stricken areas in Japan.