Rocket Lab's U.S. subsidiary has deployed two satellites to different orbits approximately 500 km apart using its Electron rocket for NASA and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Electron's 47th mission lifted off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand, carrying the NEONSAT-1 payload developed by KAIST and the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System from NASA, Rocket Lab USA said Tuesday.

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Lockheed Martin has invested in Rocket Lab‘s U.S. subsidiary to support research and development of new technologies for space exploration. “Rocket Lab’s work could have application in a number of aerospace domains, and we look forward to working with them to complement our overall efforts in small lift capabilities and hypersonic flight technologies,” Ned Allen, […] More

Rocket Lab plans to launch a mission to retrieve its Electron launch vehicle before it executes a splashdown landing in a move to demonstrate rocket reusability. Rocket Lab said Thursday the upcoming “Running Out of Toes” mission will serve as the 20th launch for Electron and is scheduled to take place in May from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

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The U.S. Space Force and the Defense Innovation Unit have awarded contracts to Rocket Lab’s national security business and True Anomaly to support a mission under the Tactically Responsive Space program. The Victus Haze mission under the TacRS program intends to harness commercial capabilities to rapidly address on-orbit threats, Space Systems Command said Thursday.

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Rocket Lab USA will launch an Electron vehicle to support the Space Test Program-S30 mission under a task order awarded by the U.S. Space Force. STP-S30 will deploy to orbit technology demonstrations and research experiments for the Department of Defense and support future development of space systems, Rocket Lab said Monday.

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Rocket Lab is planning to construct a new production and development complex in Middle River, Maryland, to manufacture advanced composite products for spacecraft and launch vehicles. The company said Friday it will renovate 113,000 square feet of space at the former Lockheed Martin Vertical Launch Building to build the new Space Structures Complex that will house the production of launch vehicle structures, carbon composite spacecraft buses, satellite dispensers and other materials used for launch and space systems.

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Rocket Lab USA has inked an agreement with the Defense Innovation Unit to conduct a Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron mission featuring a scramjet-powered hypersonic vehicle constructed by Australian company Hypersonix. The DART AE vehicle, capable of achieving speeds of up to Mach 7 with non-ballistic flight patterns, is set to launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island as early as the first quarter of 2025, Rocket Lab said Wednesday.

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Nina Armagno, a retired U.S. Space Force lieutenant general, has joined the board of directors of Rocket Lab USA, bringing over three decades of military experience to the launch services and space systems company. She served as director for space programs at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Acquisition for the Air Force.

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Rocket Lab USA will resume launches of its Electron vehicle after it secured authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration. The company said Wednesday it initiated an investigation after encountering an in-flight anomaly during the 41st launch mission of its Electron rocket on Sept. 19.

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Brian Rogers, senior director of global launch services at Rocket Lab, said he expects to see an increased demand for the Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron, a modified version of the company's Electron launch vehicle, as the Department of Defense continues to invest in hypersonics, C4ISRNET reported Saturday. The suborbital testbed launch vehicle took its inaugural flight from a launch site at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia in June in support of the Pentagon's Multi-Service Advanced Hypersonic Testbed.

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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.

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Rocket Lab USA has deployed the second and final set of NASA’s low-Earth orbit small satellites designed for tropical cyclone and hurricane monitoring. The CubeSats were launched aboard an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand to complete the agency’s four-piece TROPICS constellation or Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm […] More