Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. is a publicly traded aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider that operates and launches lightweight Electron orbital rockets used to provide dedicated launch services for small satellites. The company plans to build a larger Neutron rocket as early as 2024. Electron rockets have launched 43 times from either Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand or at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia, United States.
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| |
| Industry | Launch service provider |
| Founded | June 2006 in Auckland, New Zealand |
| Founder | Peter Beck |
| Headquarters | Long Beach, California, U.S. |
Key people | Peter Beck (CEO & CTO) |
| Products | Electron rocket Rutherford rocket engine Curie and HyperCurie rocket engine Photon satellite bus Neutron rocket |
| Revenue | US$211 million (2022) |
| US$−135 million (2022) | |
| US$−136 million (2022) | |
| Total assets | US$989 million (2022) |
| Total equity | US$673 million (2022) |
Number of employees | c. 1,400 (December 2022) |
| Website | rocketlabusa |
| Footnotes / references | |
Two attempts have been made to recover an Electron booster by helicopter. In addition, six attempts have been made at soft water recovery. As of 2022, the company is developing the bigger Neutron reusable unibody rocket; Photon satellite buses, and rocket engines: Rutherford, Curie, HyperCurie, and Archimedes.
The company was founded in New Zealand in 2006. By 2009, the successful launch of Ātea-1 made the organization the first private company in the Southern Hemisphere to reach space. The company established headquarters in California, US in 2013 and developed the expendable Electron rocket. The first launch of the rocket took place in May 2017. In August 2021, the company became a public company, listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange through a SPAC merger. In May 2022, after four years of development, the Electron booster attempted recovery by a helicopter.
The company also builds and operates satellites for the Space Development Agency, a space-based missile defense program of the United States Space Force established by Michael D. Griffin (who later became a Rocket Lab board member) in his role as Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering during the Trump administration. The company's participation drew controversy in New Zealand, where members of parliament noted the company is contributing to the "weaponization of space" and could be in violation of New Zealand's nuclear-free zone laws. The Union of Concerned Scientists warns SDA will escalate global tensions and called the project "fundamentally destabilizing".
In 2021, the company had 525 staff in New Zealand and about 150 in the rest of the world, mostly the United States. The acquisition of SolAero added 425 staff members in the United States in January 2022.