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

The launch window for Rocket Lab USA’s Electron mission will open on Jan. 23 after it was delayed in December due to unfavorable weather conditions and additional time required to complete regulatory documentation.  Rocket Lab USA said Wednesday the mission will launch from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility to deploy […] More

Rocket Lab‘s Electron vehicle has concluded wet dress rehearsal activities ahead of its launch from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility to carry out a mission for HawkEye 360. During the pre-launch activities, the Rocket Lab team raised the Electron rocket vertically before filling it up with liquid oxygen and fuel, […] More

Rocket Lab has secured hardware supply contracts worth $14 million combined from two satellite builders under the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer prototype development program. Lockheed Martin and another T1TL contractor ordered lightband separation systems that will work to connect and detach satellites from rockets once the launch vehicles get into orbit, Rocket […] 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 will develop and produce an L-band radio for the InCommand telemetry, command and control service of Inmarsat’s U.S. government arm in support of a NASA project that seeks to advance the development of commercial near-Earth satellite communications services. Rocket Lab said Thursday it will link its Frontier-L radio to Inmarsat’s ELERA L-band network […] More

Rocket Lab has secured a contract with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to provide solar panels that will power small, autonomous robots programmed to work as a team to explore and collect data on lunar and planetary surfaces. For the effort, the contractor said Friday it will use the inverted metamorphic multi-junction solar cells that its recently […] 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 is set to send to space its Electron orbital launch vehicle to support the first of the two national security missions for the National Reconnaissance Office. The rocket is already on the launch pad and ready to lift off from Pad A at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on Tuesday to carry […] 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