Electron is a small-lift launch vehicle built by Rocket Lab to give small satellites dedicated rides to orbit rather than rideshare slots on larger rockets. The rocket stands 18 meters tall and carries up to 300 kilograms to low Earth orbit.[1] Electron flew 92 times between May 2017 and August 2026, including nine suborbital HASTE missions,[2][3] making it the most-launched small orbital rocket in the world and the second most active US launcher after SpaceX's Falcon 9.[7][8]
Electron is built almost entirely of carbon fiber composite, and its Rutherford engines were the world's first electric-pump-fed rocket engines: battery-powered electric motors drive the propellant pumps instead of gas turbines.[1][19] The rocket launches from a private site on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula and from Wallops Island, Virginia, and flies dedicated missions for commercial constellations, NASA, and defense customers; repeat constellation operators dominate the manifest, with Japanese radar-imaging companies Synspective and iQPS holding 17 and 10 further booked launches as of August 2026.[3][6]
Design and specifications
Electron is a two-stage rocket 18 meters tall and 1.2 meters in diameter, with a liftoff mass of about 13,000 kilograms; it delivers up to 300 kilograms to low Earth orbit or 200 kilograms to a 500 kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit.[1]
| Parameter | Electron |
|---|---|
| Height | 18 m |
| Diameter | 1.2 m |
| Liftoff mass | 13,000 kg |
| First stage engines | 9 Rutherford (kerosene/liquid oxygen, electric pumps) |
| Second stage engine | 1 vacuum-optimized Rutherford |
| Third stage | Kick Stage with restartable Curie engine |
| Payload to low Earth orbit | 300 kg |
| Payload to 500 km Sun-synchronous orbit | 200 kg |
| Fairing | 1.2 m diameter, 2.5 m tall |
| Structure | Carbon fiber composite monocoque |
Electron's Rutherford engine is largely 3D printed, with combustion chambers, injectors, pumps, and valves produced additively; it was the first oxygen and hydrocarbon engine with all of its primary components additively manufactured.[1][19] Nine sea-level Rutherfords power the first stage, each producing about 24 kN of thrust at a specific impulse of 311 seconds, roughly 224 kN combined at liftoff. A single vacuum-optimized version with a larger nozzle (25.8 kN at 343 seconds) powers the second stage.[1] The lithium polymer batteries that drive the pumps become dead weight as they drain, so during the second stage burn two depleted batteries are jettisoned in flight and a third carries the burn to completion.[1]
Kick Stage and Photon
Most Electron missions include a third element, the Kick Stage: a 40 kilogram carbon composite tug powered by the restartable, pressure-fed Curie engine, which delivers 120 newtons of thrust alongside six cold gas control thrusters.[1] It circularizes orbits, deploys multiple payloads into different planes, and then deorbits itself to limit space debris: a final Curie burn lowers its perigee so that atmospheric drag brings it down within months or a few years rather than decades.[1] Rocket Lab evolved the Kick Stage into Photon, a full satellite bus that can host payloads or fly interplanetary trajectories: a Photon upper stage sent NASA's CAPSTONE cubesat toward the Moon on June 28, 2022, and the probe went on to become the first spacecraft to fly in the near rectilinear halo orbit planned for NASA's Gateway lunar station.[9]
Launch record
Electron's debut on May 25, 2017, nicknamed "It's a Test," was terminated by range safety because of a ground telemetry fault; the second flight, "Still Testing," reached orbit on January 21, 2018. Through August 6, 2026 the vehicle had flown 92 times with four failures (the 2017 debut plus one each in 2020, 2021, and 2023), and none since September 2023.[2][3]
| Milestone | Date | Mission |
|---|---|---|
| First launch attempt | May 25, 2017 | "It's a Test" |
| First orbital success | January 21, 2018 | "Still Testing" |
| First booster splashdown recovery | November 20, 2020 | "Return to Sender" |
| First lunar mission (CAPSTONE) | June 28, 2022 | "CAPSTONE" |
| First Wallops, Virginia launch | January 24, 2023 | "Virginia Is For Launch Lovers" |
| First HASTE suborbital flight | June 18, 2023 | For Leidos |
| First reflight of a used Rutherford engine | August 2023 | Flight 40 |
| Record 21st launch of a calendar year | December 21, 2025 | "The Wisdom God Guides" |
| Responsive-launch record | June 19, 2026 | VICTUS HAZE |
| 92nd flight | August 6, 2026 | "The Grain Goddess Provides" |
Cadence has climbed nearly every year, from 16 launches in 2024 to a record 21 in 2025, three of them HASTE, with every mission successful; 2026 reached 13 launches by August 6.[3][7][8] The 91st flight, "Ten Owl Of Ten" in June 2026, was the tenth dedicated mission for Japanese radar operator Synspective, whose whole ten-satellite constellation has ridden on Electron and which has 17 more launches booked.[6] The 92nd, "The Grain Goddess Provides" on August 6, carried the eighth satellite for compatriot iQPS after an abort at first-stage ignition on June 30 delayed it five weeks; iQPS has 10 more launches under contract, and the next was planned for no earlier than late August 2026.[3][4] Between those two missions, Rocket Lab set a responsive-launch record on June 19 for the US Space Force's VICTUS HAZE exercise, going from notice to liftoff in 16 hours and 42 minutes, more than ten hours faster than the previous mark; the Rocket Lab-built Pioneer spacecraft it carried then began a rendezvous and proximity operations exercise to approach another satellite in orbit.[5]
Booster recovery program
Rocket Lab pursued reuse of Electron's first stage in phases. Flights beginning with "Return to Sender" in November 2020 demonstrated guided reentry and parachute splashdown, with the stage pulled from the Pacific by ship.[10] On May 2, 2022, a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter briefly caught a descending booster's parachute line in midair during the "There And Back Again" mission, but the pilot released it into the ocean after the load behaved differently than in rehearsals.[11] The company concluded that marine recovery was simpler and nearly as effective, dropped the helicopter approach, and refurbished recovered hardware; a previously flown Rutherford engine returned to flight in August 2023 after passing full-duration requalification tests.[12][13]
Full Electron reflight was never made routine. Rocket Lab has since concentrated its reusability investment on Neutron, its medium-lift rocket with a first flight targeted for no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2026 after a tank qualification failure that January, while Electron continues to fly in expendable configuration on most missions.[13][14] The recovery campaign nonetheless supplied the company's engineers with flight-proven data on reusable rocket operations that fed directly into Neutron's design.[13]
HASTE suborbital variant
The Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) is a modified Electron that lofts up to 700 kilograms on suborbital trajectories for hypersonics research, primarily for US defense agencies and their contractors. It swaps the orbital Kick Stage for a version adapted to hypersonic payload deployment and offers tailored fairing options for air-breathing, ballistic reentry, and boost-glide test vehicles.[15]
| Parameter | Electron | HASTE |
|---|---|---|
| Trajectory | Orbital | Suborbital |
| Payload | 300 kg to low Earth orbit | Up to 700 kg |
| Third stage | Kick Stage or Photon | Kick Stage adapted for hypersonic payload deployment |
| First flight | May 25, 2017 | June 18, 2023 |
| Launch sites | Mahia, New Zealand and Wallops, Virginia | Wallops, Virginia, with a Kodiak, Alaska pad planned |
| Main customers | Commercial constellations, NASA, defense | US defense agencies and their contractors |
HASTE first flew on June 18, 2023 from Virginia and had completed nine missions by August 2026, three of them that year, giving the Pentagon a commercial testbed for reentry vehicles, scramjet experiments, and materials at a fraction of traditional program costs.[2][4][15] The manifest keeps growing: a 190 million dollar contract signed in March 2026 covers 20 flights over four years under the Defense Department's MACH-TB 2.0 hypersonic testbed, and a record 266 million dollar Space Force award in July 2026 added at least 12 suborbital missions that will fly ballistic missile and hypersonic glide vehicle test profiles for missile-defense work.[16][17][18]
Launch sites and cadence
Rocket Lab launches Electron from two pads at Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula, the world's first private orbital launch site, which can support up to 120 launches a year over the Pacific.[1] Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia, entered service in January 2023 and hosts US government and HASTE missions; between the two complexes Electron can reach orbital inclinations from 38 to 120 degrees.[1] A new site is on the way: the July 2026 Space Force contract funds a HASTE pad at the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska, with a first mission targeted for no earlier than late 2026.[17][18] Operating from both hemispheres lets the company serve nearly any inclination and schedule dedicated launches within days of customer need, the core of Electron's business case against rideshare alternatives.[1][7]
References
- Electron Payload User Guide, Version 8.0 - Rocket Lab, September 2025.
- List of Electron launches - Wikipedia.
- Rocket Lab Successfully Completes 92nd Electron Mission, 8th Launch for iQPS Earth-Imaging Constellation - Rocket Lab, August 6, 2026.
- Rocket Lab launches 8th iQPS satellite - SpaceNews, August 6, 2026.
- Rocket Lab Shatters Responsive Space Record: Launches U.S. Space Force VICTUS HAZE Mission in 16 Hours 42 Minutes - Rocket Lab, June 22, 2026.
- Rocket Lab Completes 10th Consecutive Launch with 100% Mission Success for Synspective - Rocket Lab, June 26, 2026.
- Rocket Lab Successfully Launches for iQPS, Ends 2025 with 21 Launches and 100% Mission Success - Rocket Lab, December 21, 2025.
- Rocket Lab wraps up record launch year - SpaceNews, December 2025.
- What is CAPSTONE? - NASA.
- Rocket Lab Launches 16th Mission, Completes Booster Recovery - Rocket Lab, November 2020.
- Epic catch! Rocket Lab snags falling booster with helicopter after 34-satellite launch - Space.com, May 2022.
- Rocket Lab Launches 40th Electron Mission, Successfully Flies Reused Engine - Rocket Lab, August 2023.
- Peter Beck discusses Neutron development as maiden flight nears - NASASpaceflight, October 2025.
- Rocket Lab delays Neutron debut to late 2026 - SpaceNews, 2026.
- Rocket Lab Debuts HASTE Rocket with First Successful Suborbital Launch from Virginia - Rocket Lab, June 18, 2023.
- Rocket Lab Secures $190M Contract for 20x HASTE Launches, Cements Hypersonics Leadership with Department of War Partnership - Rocket Lab, March 18, 2026.
- Rocket Lab to open Alaska launch site under $266 million Space Force deal - SpaceNews, July 2026.
- Rocket Lab Awarded Record $266M Missile Defense Contract with U.S. Space Force for Suborbital Launches - Rocket Lab, July 27, 2026.
- Rocket Lab Celebrates 100th Rutherford Engine Build - SpaceNews, June 2019.
