Rocket Lab is an American launch and space systems company founded in New Zealand in 2006 by engineer Peter Beck and headquartered in Long Beach, California. Its Electron small rocket has flown 92 missions as of August 6, 2026,[11] and among US launch companies only SpaceX, with its Falcon 9, flies more often.[4] The company also builds spacecraft and satellite components and is developing the reusable medium-lift Neutron.

The company went public on the Nasdaq in August 2021 and is now organized as Rocket Lab Corporation. Through acquisitions and spacecraft work it has become a broader space company, builder of the twin ESCAPADE probes now en route to Mars for NASA.[2] Its next milestone is Neutron, whose first flight slipped to no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2026 after a tank qualification test failure in January.[3]

Status as of August 2026

Rocket Lab reached mid-August 2026 with 92 Electron flights completed,[11] 13 of them during 2026, and the next mission, carrying another iQPS radar satellite, planned for no earlier than late August.[12] Nine of those flights were suborbital HASTE missions,[1] and a record 266 million dollar Space Force award in July added at least 12 more.[28] Second-quarter results, announced August 10, set records on both headline lines: revenue of 234.1 million dollars, up 62 percent year over year, and total backlog of 2.36 billion dollars, with more than 90 launches under contract.[29] Neutron production is tracking toward delivery of the rocket to its Wallops pad in the fourth quarter of 2026, though the company said on its earnings call that the window for a launch before year's end is narrowing.[30] The largest pending move is the agreement announced June 29 to buy satellite communications operator Iridium for 54 dollars per share, an enterprise value of about 8 billion dollars, with closing expected in mid-2027.[31]

History

Peter Beck founded Rocket Lab after a self-directed apprenticeship in propulsion that included building rocket-powered bicycles. The company launched the suborbital Atea-1 in 2009, then developed Electron with backing from Silicon Valley investors and a launch site on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula, where the thinly trafficked airspace permits high launch cadence. Rocket Lab redomiciled as a US company, listed through a SPAC merger in 2021, and expanded into satellite manufacturing. It ended 2025 with a record year of launches across two hemispheres.[4] Revenue grew 38 percent that year to a record 602 million dollars,[8] and the first quarter of 2026 brought another record above 200 million dollars, with a backlog above 2.2 billion dollars.[9]

Electron and HASTE

Electron is Rocket Lab's 18-meter, carbon-composite rocket that lifts up to 300 kilograms to low Earth orbit.[10] Its nine Rutherford first-stage engines were the first electric-pump-fed engines to reach orbit, and most of their components are 3D printed. A kick stage handles precise orbital insertion. After a failed first flight in May 2017, Electron reached orbit in January 2018 and has flown 92 missions as of August 6, 2026, a tally that includes its suborbital HASTE flights.[11] Four orbital missions have failed across the program's history, none since September 2023.[1] A record 21 launches in 2025, three of them HASTE, was followed by 13 more through early August 2026.[4][12] Repeat constellation customers dominate the manifest: the 91st mission in June 2026 was the tenth dedicated flight for Japanese radar operator Synspective, which has another 17 booked,[13] and the 92nd carried the eighth satellite for compatriot iQPS, with 10 more launches under contract.[11] Electron flies from two pads at Mahia and from Launch Complex 2 at Wallops Island, Virginia.

Rocket Lab pursued booster reuse in stages: it recovered a first stage from the Pacific for the first time in November 2020,[14] briefly caught a descending booster with a helicopter in May 2022,[15] and reflew a recovered Rutherford engine in 2023.[16] The company ultimately set aside full Electron reuse, moving its recovery team onto Neutron and treating Electron's reentry and recovery data as groundwork for the larger rocket.[17]

HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) is a suborbital Electron variant that lofts hypersonic test payloads for US defense customers from Wallops. It debuted in June 2023 and had flown nine times by August 2026, all successfully, three of those flights in 2026.[1][12] A 190 million dollar contract signed in March 2026 covers 20 more flights over four years for the Pentagon's Kratos-led MACH-TB 2.0 hypersonic testbed,[18] and defense company Anduril booked three launches in a 30 million dollar deal that May.[19] In July 2026 the Space Force followed with a record 266 million dollar award for at least 12 further suborbital missions flying ballistic missile and hypersonic glide vehicle test profiles, under which Rocket Lab will open a new HASTE pad at Kodiak, Alaska.[27][28]

Spacecraft and ESCAPADE

Rocket Lab's spacecraft business grew out of Photon, a satellite bus derived from Electron's Curie-powered kick stage, which flew NASA's CAPSTONE probe to lunar orbit in 2022 and served as the departure stage for other deep space work. The company now builds satellites for the US Space Development Agency, a 17-satellite constellation for Globalstar, and components, from solar cells to reaction wheels to separation systems, that fly on many other operators' missions. An 816 million dollar Space Development Agency contract for 18 satellites, signed in 2025, is the company's largest single award.[8] In August 2026 the US Space Force followed with a 397 million dollar contract to build, launch, and operate a fleet of Flatellites, Rocket Lab's flat, stackable constellation satellite, to track airborne threats under the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator program.[20] Rocket Lab also built the three Pioneer spacecraft that carried Varda Space Industries' first orbital drug-processing capsules, which returned to Earth between 2024 and 2025.[21]

Rocket Lab's most distant spacecraft are the twin ESCAPADE Mars probes, Blue and Gold, built for NASA and the University of California, Berkeley to study how the solar wind strips the Martian atmosphere. Launched on November 13, 2025, aboard Blue Origin's New Glenn on its second flight, the pair completed commissioning while loitering near the Sun-Earth L2 point. They will swing past Earth in November 2026 for a gravity assist and arrive at Mars in September 2027.[2]

Neutron

Neutron is Rocket Lab's entry into the medium-lift market: a roughly 43-meter, carbon-composite rocket designed to carry about 13 tonnes to low Earth orbit, with a reusable first stage powered by nine methane-fueled Archimedes engines.[22] It will launch from Launch Complex 3 at Wallops and land downrange on "Return On Investment," a 122-meter landing barge expected to be ready for the rocket's second flight.[23] Rocket Lab positions Neutron for constellation deployment and national security launches: the rocket was added to the US Space Force's NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 pool in March 2025,[24] and the August 2026 Flatellite award names Neutron as the launch vehicle for that constellation, booking a national security mission before the rocket has flown.[20]

SpecificationElectronNeutron
Height18 meters[10]About 43 meters[22]
Payload to low Earth orbit300 kilograms[10]About 13 tonnes[22]
First-stage enginesNine Rutherford, electric-pump-fedNine Archimedes, methane-fueled
First-stage recoveryNone; reuse effort shelved[17]Propulsive landing on a barge[23]
First launchMay 2017No earlier than Q4 2026[3]

Neutron's debut has slipped repeatedly. By late 2025, Archimedes engines were running qualification tests at NASA's Stennis Space Center up to 20 hours a day, and Neutron development spending had passed 360 million dollars, above the original estimate of 250 to 300 million.[23] On January 21, 2026, a first-stage qualification tank ruptured during hydrostatic pressure testing in Maryland; the failure traced to a hand-built joint from a third-party supplier, used while Rocket Lab's own automated fiber placement machine was being commissioned. The replacement tank is being built in house, and the company now targets a first flight no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2026,[3][5] planned to fly without a customer payload.[23] Customer demand has held: in May 2026 a confidential customer signed the largest launch deal in company history, covering five Neutron and three Electron missions between 2026 and 2029 and lifting the backlog above 2.2 billion dollars.[6]

Acquisitions and expansion

Rocket Lab has assembled its supply chain largely by purchase.

AcquisitionYearCapability added
Sinclair Interplanetary2020Reaction wheels and star trackers
ASI and PSC2021Flight software; separation systems
SolAero2022Space-grade solar cells
Geost2025Electro-optical and infrared payloads
Mynaric2026Laser communications terminals
Motiv Space Systems2026Space robotics and precision mechanisms

The 275 million dollar Geost deal, closed in August 2025, moved Rocket Lab into national security payloads for missile warning and space domain awareness, part of its pitch to become a prime contractor for US defense programs.[7] The acquisition of Germany's Mynaric, completed in April 2026 for 155.3 million dollars after a financial restructuring, added laser communications terminals used in proliferated constellations and gave Rocket Lab its first European manufacturing footprint.[25] Motiv Space Systems, bought in May 2026 and renamed Rocket Lab Robotics, built the robotic arm on NASA's Perseverance rover and supplies precision mechanisms such as the solar array drives needed by high-power spacecraft, including designs proposed for orbital data centers.[26] The company also took over former Virgin Orbit facilities in Long Beach in 2023 to expand engine production.

Every one of those deals is dwarfed by the pending one: on June 29, 2026, Rocket Lab agreed to acquire Iridium, the satellite communications operator serving more than 2.5 million subscribers, in a cash-and-stock deal at an enterprise value of about 8 billion dollars. The sale is expected to close in mid-2027, pending Iridium shareholder and regulatory approval.[31]

References

  1. List of Electron launches - Wikipedia.
  2. Rocket Lab Completes Spacecraft Commissioning for NASA's ESCAPADE Mars Mission - Rocket Lab.
  3. Rocket Lab delays Neutron debut to late 2026 - SpaceNews.
  4. Rocket Lab wraps up record launch year - SpaceNews.
  5. Rocket Lab's new Neutron rocket suffers fuel tank rupture during test - Space.com.
  6. Rocket Lab's Biggest Launch Deal Yet: Confidential Customer Books Multiple Neutron and Electron Launches - Rocket Lab.
  7. Rocket Lab Closes Acquisition of Geost, Expanding Its National Security Capabilities with Launch, Spacecraft, and Now Payloads - Rocket Lab.
  8. Rocket Lab Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results - Rocket Lab, February 26, 2026.
  9. Rocket Lab Announces First Quarter 2026 Financial Results - Rocket Lab, May 7, 2026.
  10. Electron Payload User Guide, Version 8.0 - Rocket Lab, September 2025.
  11. Rocket Lab Successfully Completes 92nd Electron Mission, 8th Launch for iQPS Earth-Imaging Constellation - Rocket Lab, August 6, 2026.
  12. Rocket Lab launches 8th iQPS satellite - SpaceNews, August 2026.
  13. Rocket Lab Completes 10th Consecutive Launch with 100% Mission Success for Synspective - Rocket Lab, June 26, 2026.
  14. Rocket Lab Launches 16th Mission, Completes Booster Recovery - Rocket Lab, November 2020.
  15. Rocket Lab Helicopter Booster Recovery in Midair - IEEE Spectrum.
  16. Rocket Lab Launches 40th Electron Mission, Successfully Flies Reused Engine - Rocket Lab, August 2023.
  17. Peter Beck discusses Neutron development as maiden flight nears - NASASpaceflight, October 2025.
  18. Rocket Lab Secures $190M Contract for 20x HASTE Launches, Cements Hypersonics Leadership with Department of War Partnership - Rocket Lab, March 18, 2026.
  19. Rocket Lab Awarded $30 Million Contract for HASTE Hypersonic Rocket Launches for Anduril - Rocket Lab, May 7, 2026.
  20. Rocket Lab Awarded $397 Million Contract to Build and Launch Flatellites for U.S. Space Force's Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator Program - Rocket Lab, August 4, 2026.
  21. Two Earth Return Missions in Two Months: Rocket Lab Demonstrates Rapid Re-entry Capability with Third Pioneer Spacecraft for Varda Space Industries - Rocket Lab, May 2025.
  22. Rocket Lab Neutron: Reusable Medium-Lift Launch Vehicle - Rocket Lab.
  23. Rocket Lab delays debut of Neutron rocket to 2026 - Spaceflight Now, November 11, 2025.
  24. Rocket Lab's Neutron Rocket On-Ramped to U.S. Space Force's $5.6b National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Program - Rocket Lab, March 2025.
  25. Rocket Lab Completes Mynaric Acquisition, Adding Laser Optical Communications To Growing Space Systems Portfolio - Rocket Lab, April 14, 2026.
  26. Rocket Lab Adds Mars-Proven Robotics Capabilities with Completion of Motiv Space Systems Acquisition - Rocket Lab, May 26, 2026.
  27. Rocket Lab to open Alaska launch site under $266 million Space Force deal - SpaceNews, July 2026.
  28. Rocket Lab Awarded Record $266M Missile Defense Contract with U.S. Space Force for Suborbital Launches - Rocket Lab, July 27, 2026.
  29. Rocket Lab Announces Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results: Posts Record Revenue and Record Backlog, Guides To Another Record Revenue Quarter in Q3 2026 - Rocket Lab, August 10, 2026.
  30. Window for 2026 launch debut of Rocket Lab's Neutron rocket 'is narrowing' as development continues - Spaceflight Now, August 10, 2026.
  31. Rocket Lab to Acquire Iridium in Historic Deal, Creating A Fully Vertically Integrated Space Powerhouse Primed for Growth - Rocket Lab, June 29, 2026.