Rocket Lab

Space

Rocket Lab uses a helicopter to catch its booster in mid-air

Rocket Lab is looking to join the rocket recycling party by collecting the first stage of its Electron launch vehicle in midair using a helicopter, a method that it has now successfully demonstrated over the open ocean in New Zealand.

Space

Rocket Lab gears up for lunar missions

Rocket Lab announced today at the International Astronautical Congress in Washinton DC that it is expanding its services to deliver small satellites and other payloads into medium, geostationary, and even lunar orbits as soon as late 2020.

Rocket Lab hopes to use helicopters to retrieve rockets for refurbishment

Space

Rocket Lab lays out plan to recycle used rockets by catching them with helicopters

SpaceX singlehandedly changed the game when it comes to rocket recycling, but it might soon have some company with competitor Rocket Lab today announcing a reusability program of its own.

Space

Rocket Lab fires a set of satellites into orbit for US military

Following a year with mixed results, 2019 is shaping up as quite a success story for US space startup Rocket Lab. The company has backed up a successful satellite launch for DARPA in March with another for the US Air Force.

Electron lifts off with DARPA's payload in tow

Space

Rocket Lab delivers experimental satellite to orbit for DARPA

In another feather in the cap for the New Zealand-based startup, Rocket Lab has successfully pulled off its first launch for DARPA, delivering an experimental satellite into orbit that the agency hopes will open up new possibilities around radio communication.

Rocket Lab plans to produce one of its Electron rockets every week

Space

DARPA turns to space startup Rocket Lab for experimental satellite launch

It hasn’t been an entirely smooth sailing so far for Rocket Lab, but the New Zealand-based startup is starting to turn some important heads in the space scene. The company has today announced its next launch will be used to lift a satellite into orbit for DARPA.

Space

First-of-a-kind Rocket Lab launch lets NASA CubeSats ride to space in luxury

NASA's Venture Class Launch Services program aims to use a new breed of smaller rockets to let CubeSats ride in luxury on their own personal, purpose-built spacecraft. The agency has now carried out its very first launch as part of this endeavor.

Rocket Lab has a new rocket factory that covers 7,500 sq m (80,700 sq ft) in Auckland

Space

A booster a week? Rocket Lab moves towards mass production with "huge" new facility

Rocket Lab is a private space company with some lofty ambitions. It has now moved a little closer to its goals, this week adding the finishing touches to a giant new factory designed to produce its Electron rocket swiftly, and on a mass scale.

Rocket Lab's Electron booster stands on the launchpad during testing

Space

Rocket Lab readies its first commercial launch

The US-based private space firm Rocket Lab and its wholly owned New Zealand-based subsidiary have announced plans to go ahead with its first fully commercial mission, with the launch window to open later this month.