New Zealand and American public spaceflight company
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. is a publicly traded aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider [ 11] that operates and launches lightweight Electron orbital rockets [ 11] used to provide dedicated launch services for small satellites [ 12] as well as a suborbital variant of Electron called HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron).[ 13] The company plans to build a larger Neutron rocket[ 14] as early as 2025.[ 15] Electron rockets have launched to orbit 49 times from either Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand[ 11] or at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island , Virginia, United States.[ 16] Rocket Lab has launched one sub-orbital HASTE rocket to date from Wallops Island, Virginia.[ 17] In addition to the Electron, Neutron, and HASTE launch vehicles, Rocket Lab manufactures and operates spacecraft and is a supplier of satellite components including star trackers , reaction wheels , solar cells and arrays , satellite radios , separation systems, as well as flight and ground software.[ 18]
The company was founded in New Zealand in 2006.[ 19] By 2009,[ 20] the successful launch of Ātea-1[ 20] made the organization the first private company in the Southern Hemisphere to reach space .[ 19] The company established headquarters in California , U.S. in 2013[ 21] and developed the expendable [ 22] Electron rocket.[ 23] The first launch of the rocket took place in May 2017.[ 24] In August 2020, the company launched its first in-house designed and built satellite, Photon .[ 25] In August 2021, the company became a public company , listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange through a SPAC merger.[ 26] In May 2022, after four years of development, the Electron booster attempted recovery by a helicopter.[ 27] In 2024, the company announced that a first stage booster that was recovered on an earlier launch will be reused on a future launch, marking the first time Electron would reuse the full first stage.[ 28] The company also built and operates satellites for the Space Development Agency ,[ 29] [ 30] a direct-reporting agency of the United States Space Force .
Rocket Lab has acquired four companies to expand its space systems offering including Sinclair Interplanetary in April 2020,[ 31] Advanced Solutions Incorporated in December 2021,[ 32] SolAero Holdings Incorporated in January 2022,[ 33] and Planetary Systems Corporation in December 2021.[ 34] As of June 2024, the company had approximately 2,000 full time permanent employees globally.[ 7] Approximately 700 of these employees are based in New Zealand with the remainder in the United States.[ 35] The acquisition of SolAero added 425 staff members in the United States in January 2022.[ 36] [ 37] As of 2024, the company is developing the bigger Neutron reusable unibody rocket ;[ 15] multiple spacecraft buses,[ 38] and rocket engines : Rutherford ,[ 39] Curie ,[ 40] HyperCurie ,[ 41] and Archimedes .[ 42] In mid 2024, the company entered the engine test phase in Neutron’s development process.[ 43]
^ "Rocket Lab Celebrates Rich Ten-Year History" . Rocket Lab. 2016. Archived from the original on 21 April 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2017 .
^ "Our Team" . Rocket Lab . Retrieved 27 June 2024 .
^ Masunaga, Samantha (21 March 2017). "Rocket Lab moves headquarters from Los Angeles to Huntington Beach" . Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2019 .
^ "Our Team" . Rocket Lab . Retrieved 27 June 2024 .
^ "Rocket Lab tests new hyperCurie engine that will power its deep space delivery vehicle" . Yahoo News . 13 May 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2024 .
^ "Rocket Lab (RKLB) - Total assets" .
^ a b "Sir Peter Beck: Ambitions interplanetary and down-to-Earth" . RNZ . 3 June 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024 .
^ "Rocket Lab USA Inc. 2022 Annual Report (Form 10-K)" . U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . 7 March 2023. Archived from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023 .
^ "Rocket Lab USA Inc (RKLB) Reports Year-Over-Year Revenue Growth and Margin Expansion" . 27 February 2024.
^ "Reusable Rockets" . Rocket Lab . Retrieved 27 June 2024 .
^ a b c "New Zealand Launch Schedule [Including Past Launches] - RocketLaunch.Live" . www.rocketlaunch.live . Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ "IAF : B4.5 Speed To Space: Dedicated Launch For Small Satellites on Electron" . www.iafastro.org . Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ "Rocket Lab Introduces Suborbital Testbed Rocket, Selected for Hypersonic Test Flights" . Rocket Lab . Retrieved 18 March 2024 .
^ "Neutron" . Rocket Lab . Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ a b Roulette, Joey (30 September 2022). "Rocket Lab to fire up first tests of new engine next year - CEO" . Reuters . Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ Mehta, Aaron (7 December 2022). "New Zealand's Rocket Lab prepares for first launch from US, as it eyes national security growth" . Breaking Defense . Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ Foust, Jeff (18 June 2023). "Rocket Lab launches first suborbital version of Electron" . SpaceNews . Retrieved 18 March 2024 .
^ "Rocket Lab Makes its Defense Prime Debut with $0.5 Billion Contract to Design and Build Satellite Constellation for Space Development Agency" . Rocket Lab . Retrieved 18 March 2024 .
^ a b "Rocket Lab USA Poised to Change the Space Industry" . Rocket Lab . Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ a b "Ä€tea-1" . Gunter's Space Page . Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ "Rocket Lab Expands Footprint with New Long Beach Headquarters and Production Complex" . Rocket Lab . Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ Wall, Mike (4 November 2022). "Rocket Lab launches Swedish satellite but fails to catch booster with helicopter" . Space.com . Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ "Electron" . Rocket Lab . Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ "Completed Missions" . Rocket Lab . Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ Foust, Jeff (4 September 2020). "Rocket Lab launches first Photon satellite" . SpaceNews . Retrieved 18 March 2024 .
^ "Rocket Lab Completes Merger with Vector Acquisition Corporation to Become Publicly Traded End-to-End Space Company" . Rocket Lab . Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ "Rocket Maker Fails in 1st Bid to Catch, Recover Booster With Helicopter | Aerospace Tech Review" . www.aerospacetechreview.com . 3 May 2022. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ "Rocket Lab Returns Previously Flown Electron to Production Line in Preparation for First Reflight" . www.businesswire.com . 10 April 2024. Retrieved 11 April 2024 .
^ "Rocket Lab wins $515 million contract to build 18 satellites for U.S. government agency" . 23 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023 .
^ "Rocket Lab Supports Significant Milestone for DARPA and Space Development Agency" . 13 July 2022. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022 .
^ "Rocket Lab Closes Acquisition of Satellite Hardware Manufacturer Sinclair Interplanetary" . Rocket Lab . Retrieved 18 March 2024 .
^ "Rocket Lab Acquires Space Software Company Advanced Solutions, Inc" . Rocket Lab . Retrieved 18 March 2024 .
^ "Rocket Lab Closes Acquisition of Space Solar Power Products Company SolAero Holdings, Inc" . Rocket Lab . Retrieved 18 March 2024 .
^ "Rocket Lab Closes Acquisition Of Space Hardware Company Planetary Systems Corporation" . Rocket Lab . Retrieved 18 March 2024 .
^ "The Post" . www.thepost.co.nz . Retrieved 18 March 2024 .
^ Bellan, Rebecca (18 January 2022). "Rocket Lab acquires SolAero Holdings for $80M to boost space solar cell production" . TechCrunch . Archived from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023 .
^ Pullar-Strecker, Tom (14 December 2021). "Most Rocket Lab staff set to be based outside NZ by early next year" . Stuff . Archived from the original on 26 January 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2023 .
^ "Rocket Lab Unveils Spacecraft Bus Lineup" . Rocket Lab . Retrieved 18 March 2024 .
^ "Rutherford Engine Test Fire" . Rocket Lab . Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ "The Kick Stage: Responsible Orbital Deployment" . Rocket Lab . Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ Etherington, Darrell (13 May 2020). "Rocket Lab tests new hyperCurie engine that will power its deep space delivery vehicle" . TechCrunch . Archived from the original on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ Gebhardt, Chris (2 December 2021). "Neutron switches to methane/oxygen, 1 Meganewton Archimedes engine revealed" . NASASpaceFlight.com . Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2022 .
^ "Rocket Lab Completes Archimedes Engine Build, Begins Engine Test Campaign" . www.businesswire.com . 6 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024 .