Once the golden child of the Japanese new space industry, the stock’s fall from grace has been quick. Another iQPS satellite malfunctioned in orbit. This is the second satellite in three months. In December 2023 iQPS launched QPS-SAR-5 on a Rocketlab Electron. The launch was notable since it was Electron’s first launch in three months following an Electron launch failure occurring that September. However, it seems launch costs iQPS paid for QPS-SAR-5 were wasted. iQPS reported on September 11th that the satellite experienced a failure in its communication system. iQPS further vowed to engineer redeny in future satellites as a preventive measure.
This marks the second iQPS satellite to fail in orbit. In July of this year they announced QPS-SAR-6’s thrusters malfunctioned in orbit. iQPS reported QPS-SAR-5 resultantly will deorbit and end its operational mission approximately 3.5 years early. At the time, iQPS assured investors that they did not expect thruster malfunction to impact QPS-SAR-5 or 7. Whereas this so far appears true, QPS-SAR-5 was plagued with a separate problem.
iQPS seriously needs to get engineering and quality control under control. Their financial business plan and constellation growth forecasts now appear in jeopardy. So much for shareholders hoping iQPS breaks into international sales. iQPS’s biggest challenge now is proving they can make working satellites.
The stock dropped 18% following the news of the QPS-SAR-5 failure. It still seems significantly overvalued at current levels. Especially now there are more doubts in iQPS’s engineering ability. iQPS provided shareholders guidance that they would launch their 13th through 18th satellites by May 2026. This should now be very much in doubt.