Rocket Lab

The US Air Force is investing in a transport system that could one day deliver 100 tonnes for cargo or personnel by rocket to any spot on Earth in under 90 minutes. Unimaginatively called Rocket Cargo, it may begin preliminary tests next year.

Rocket Lab's Neutron is the largest composite rocket ever made. It used to take a large team several weeks to hand-layer that much carbon fiber – but with the company's new Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) machine, it can now be done in a single day.

The world's most advanced solar sail spacecraft began its epic odyssey as it lifted off atop a Rocket Lab Electron launcher from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. It was one of two payloads on the Beginning Of The Swarm mission.

Better known for building and flying lightweight small and medium orbital launchers, Rocket Lab is branching out. The company has announced the successful full launch of its HASTE rocket, which is designed to boost hypersonic vehicles well past Mach 5.

Space launch company Virgin Orbit has been grounded for good after a US bankruptcy court broke it up and sold off its assets to bidders. The demise of the ambitious venture comes after a failed attempt to conduct its first mission in January.

Ahead of the start of the Atlantic hurricane season next month, two storm-monitoring NASA CubeSats have successfully launched into space atop a Rocket Lab Electron booster from the Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.

Rocket Lab captured one of its rockets for the first time in May, and has since been busy refurbishing it and working towards another notable milestone, proving it can work again just like a brand new one.

NASA took its first step today in establishing its Gateway orbital lunar outpost with the launch of its CAPSTONE CubeSat that will be used to test a new lunar orbit slated for the future space station.

Rocket Lab has taken an important step forward in its efforts to recover its boosters for re-flight, today capturing its Electron first stage with a helicopter as it hurtled back toward Earth for the first time.

Rocket Lab has some bold rocket reusability aspirations, and all going to plan will soon achieve a key milestone by collecting the first stage of its Electron booster in midair with a customized Sikorsky S-92 helicopter.

Is there microbial life floating around in the clouds of Venus? Scientists have long pondered this question and soon we may get some answers, starting with a cloud-skimming mission in 2023 to search for signs of life.

Rocket Lab has unveiled its concept for a new reusable launch vehicle called Neutron. Looking like something a Bond villain would deploy, it carries its second stage inside a permanently attached captive “Hungry Hippo” fairing design.