Jane Edwards
Rocket Lab USA has unveiled a 144,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Long Beach, California, to support the production of its two rocket engines.
The new engine development center will house the development and production of the company’s 3D-printed engine Rutherford for its Electron launch vehicle and the Archimedes engine for its reusable medium-lift rocket, dubbed Neutron, Rocket Lab said Wednesday.
“By co-locating our Engine Development Center near our Long Beach headquarters and production complex, we’ve maximized collaboration between our engineering and manufacturing to ensure streamlined efficiency as we continue ramping up Electron launch cadence and get closer to Neutron’s debut launch,” said Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab.
In May, the launch services provider spent $16.1 million to acquire the facility’s equipment, machinery and other production assets.
The company will move the manufactured Archimedes engine from the center to NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for testing and then integrate the engine with its Neutron rocket, which will lift off from its launch complex at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Rocket Lab will test its Rutherford engines in New Zealand and then integrate them with its Electron launch vehicle, which will take off from its launch sites in New Zealand and Virginia.
