Rocket Lab recently delivered the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Radio Frequency Risk Reduction Deployment Demonstration satellite into orbit aboard the Electron launch vehicle. The R3D2 launch was the first Rocket Lab launch for the year, the company announced Thursday.

More

Rocket Lab has shortlisted Vandenberg Air Force Base, Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska, Wallops Flight Facility and Cape Canaveral for its second launch site. The company said Tuesday it plans to select by August 2018 the location of the future Launch Complex 2, which will expand its Electron rocket production and customer access to orbit. Peter Beck, founder and chief executive […] More

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.

More

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.

More

Rocket Lab has launched its first Electron mission from the U.S. to deploy three HawkEye 360-developed satellites to the low Earth orbit. The “Virginia Is For Launch Lovers” mission lifted off Tuesday from Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Rocket Lab said. It is the first of […] More

Rocket Lab has commenced operations on its new testing facility at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi where it will develop and test the Archimedes reusable engine.  The aerospace manufacturer’s Archimedes Test Complex will see testing work on 165,000 pound-force of engines, which will be utilized for the production of its reusable Neutron launch vehicle, […] More

Rocket Lab USA will utilize NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi as its new engine testing facility for its reusable rocket in development, Neutron.  The company secured a 10-year lease for its Archimedes test complex to be established within the space agency center, with an extension option of another 10 years, the launch and space […] More

The NROL-199 “Antipodean Adventure” national security mission on Thursday lifted off aboard Rocket Lab USA’s Electron launch vehicle from a launch site in New Zealand. The event marks the second launch performed by Rocket Lab for the National Reconnaissance Office, which will operate the mission in partnership with Australia’s defense department, the company said Thursday. […] More

Rocket Lab USA has unveiled a program meant to provide operators of commercial and government satellites with access to the company’s launch capability and spacecraft development and support services. The Responsive Space Program will enable Rocket Lab to have direct collaboration with satellite operators on rapid call-up launch and operations as well as design, build […] More

Rocket Lab USA will hold two Electron rocket launches to send to space two national security missions for the National Reconnaissance Office under the agency’s Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket contract. An Electron rocket carrying a payload for NROL-162 mission dubbed “Wise One Looks Ahead” will lift off from the Pad A of Rocket […] More

Arjun Kampani, an aerospace executive with approximately 20 years of industry experience, has joined Rocket Lab USA to oversee the launch service provider’s legal and regulatory affairs as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. He previously worked at Aerojet Rocketdyne, where he held similar positions focused on corporate law and governance, legal, ethics […] More

Rocket Lab will construct a complex for the rapid production, assembly, integration and launch of its next-generation, 8-ton payload class reusable rocket in Wallops Island, Virginia. The launch service provider said Monday the 250,000-square-foot Neutron Production Complex will feature capabilities for manufacturing and refurbishing the Neutron rocket and managing its liftoff, landing and on-orbit operations. […] More