Electron

Launch contracts are “basically worthless” until a rocket is proven and flying, Rocket Lab CEO says

Rocket Lab is waiting until Neutron is more technically mature before signing launch contracts with customers, CEO Peter Beck told investors on Wednesday. The statements provided an inside look on how

Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle ‘fully’ booked next year, will resume flight as early as November-end

Rocket Lab is best known for the Electron launch vehicle, but the company’s earnings results continue to show that it is much more than a rocket company. The company reported $68 million in revenue

Electron will likely return to the skies before the year is out, Rocket Lab says

Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket will likely return to flight before the year is out, though work remains before missions can resume, according to a new statement released Wednesday. Rocket Lab said it

Rocket Lab turns old Virgin Orbit facilities into an engine development complex

Rocket Lab has transformed Virgin Orbit’s massive headquarters and manufacturing facility into a new engine development center, at just a fraction of the price that it would’ve cost to purchase ne

Rocket Lab aiming to advance Electron reusability with tonight’s launch

Rocket Lab has made improvements to the first stage of the Electron rocket to make it more resilient to ocean water, upgrades that will be put to the test with tonight’s launch. The “Baby Come Bac

Rocket Lab doubles down on marine booster recovery with next Electron launch

Rocket Lab’s next Electron mission will include another marine recovery attempt of the rocket’s booster, the latest step by the company to advance its reusability program. The mission, called

Watch Rocket Lab launch Electron from US soil for the first time

After multiple delays due to inclement weather and high winds, Rocket Lab is poised to launch its first mission from Virginia today, with a two-hour launch window opening at 6 p.m. EST. The mission is

Watch Rocket Lab attempt a mid-air Electron rocket booster recovery live

Update: After a nominal launch and payload deployment, Rocket Lab was unable to attempt a mid-air catch with the helicopter. Instead, the company will recover the booster from the ocean when it splas

Rocket Lab will attempt to catch an Electron rocket booster with a helicopter again

Rocket Lab is gearing up for a second attempt to catch a rocket booster mid-air using a helicopter, a technique the company is hoping to perfect after a partially successful recovery earlier this year

Virgin Orbit and Rocket Lab gear up for launches on new continents

Virgin Orbit and Rocket Lab are expanding their launch capacities as each company gears up for inaugural missions from countries that they have never flown from. For Rocket Lab, that’s the United St

Rocket Lab expands US presence with engine testing, launch facilities

Rocket Lab is a U.S.-based company, but until now the bulk of its activities have been conducted in New Zealand. While the company has been public about its plans to expand to both hemispheres for a w

Rocket Lab, Sierra Space sign agreements under US military’s rocket cargo project

Rocket Lab and Sierra Space have signed separate agreements with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to explore how their respective flight systems — Rocket Lab’s Electron and Neutron roc

Rocket Lab fires up its first recovered engine, on track to full booster reusability

Four months after the spectacular feat that was catching a descending rocket stage in mid-air, Rocket Lab has re-ignited one of the engines from that booster — an important step on their roadmap to

Watch Rocket Lab launch the first of two missions for the National Reconnaissance Office

Rocket Lab is attempting to demonstrate its speediest launch cadence yet, with two back-to-back missions for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) scheduled to fly 10 days apart. The first mis

Rocket Lab offers next-day shipping to space

It wasn’t long ago that orbital launches were something that took years of planning and months of tests and careful preparation. But Rocket Lab’s new program will enable customers to show

GitHub sunsets Atom, the software dev environment it launched in 2011

GitHub today announced that it will sunset Atom, the text editor for software development that the company introduced in 2011. In a blog post, GitHub said that it will archive the Atom repository and

Watch Rocket Lab send a pair of BlackSky satellites to space

Rocket Lab will embark on its 25th mission using the Electron rocket on Friday, this time to send two Earth-imaging spacecraft to orbit for BlackSky. The launch, the second of 2022 for Rocket Lab, wil

Rocket Lab reimagines rocket design with its Neutron launch vehicle

Rocket Lab finally pulled the cover off its Neutron rocket, a medium-lift vehicle that CEO Peter Beck calls “a rocket of 2050,” as the company looks to take a greater share of the launch market cu

Rocket Lab aims to catch Electron rocket booster mid-air with a helicopter next year

Fresh on the heels of Rocket Lab’s third successful booster recovery, CEO Peter Beck said the next step will be attempting to catch the booster mid-air using a helicopter, likely within the first ha

Max Q: Elon Musk talks Starship, envisions first orbital launch in January 2022

Hello and welcome back to Max Q, your very favorite space news digest. A ton happened this week — launches, financing deals, contract awards, etc., etc. — so let’s dive in. Send thou
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