Rocket Lab

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.

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.​

​​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.

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.

​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.

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 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. ​

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.