ROCKET LAB

Lift-off of the Birds Of A Feather mission occurred at 02:56 UTC on January 31 2020 from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula.

Join us as we take a look back at our favourite moments from the first 10 missions, and hear what we're looking forward to in 2020.

Meet Rosie, the rocket building robot. Rosie is a custom built, 140 square meter robot that enables the precision machining of Electron's carbon composite structures, including stage 1, stage 2, and the fairing. In just 12 hours, all marking, cutting, drilling, milling, and sanding is completed on a vehicle.

Lift-off of the Running Out Of Fingers mission occurred at 08:18 UTC on December 06 2019 from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula.

Join Amanda Stiles, Director of Mission Management and Integration, as we take you on a tour of Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1. Located on the Mahia Peninsula on New Zealand's East Coast, LC-1 is the best spot in the world to launch more frequently than anywhere else on the planet.

Lift-off of the 'As The Crow Flies' mission occurred at 01:22 UTC on October 17 2019 from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula.

The recent installation of the launch platform at Rocket Lab’s second launch site, Launch Complex 2, marks one of the final steps in the construction of the new pad being built by the Rocket Lab and Virginia Space teams.

Lift-off of the Look Ma, No Hands mission occurred at 12:12 UTC on August 19 2019 from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula.

Rocket Lab has detailed plans to recover and re-fly Electron's first stage to support increased launch frequency for small satellites.

On August 6, 2019, Rocket Lab Founder and CEO Peter Beck announced plans to make Electron a reusable launch vehicle.

The Photon spacecraft platform is the next step in Rocket Lab’s evolution. Our goal is to help anyone get to space quickly, reliably, and affordably. We started with launch - the common problem faced by the entire industry. The next logical step is spacecraft: by co-architecting our launch vehicle and upper stage, which can also serve as a long-life satellite platform, we have transitioned to a one-stop shop for both launch and space segments. This lets customers focus on what really matters - their applications - without the needless distraction of developing or procuring a spacecraft platform that isn’t optimized for any particular launch vehicle. Electron and Photon fit together by design.

Lift-off of the Make It Rain mission for Spaceflight occurred at 04:30 UTC on June 29 2019 from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula.

Lift-off of the STP-27RD mission for DoD Space Test Program occurred at 06:00 UTC on May 5 2019 from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula.

Lift-off of the R3D2 mission for DARPA occurred at 23:27 UTC on March 28 2019 from New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula

Liftoff of the ELaNa 19 mission for NASA occurred at 06:33 UTC on December 16 2018 from the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.

NASA's first Venture Class mission, ELaNa 19, launched on Electron from Launch Complex 1 on December 16, 2018 UTC. Small satellites now have a first class ride to orbit.

Rocket Lab successfully launched 'It's Business Time' at 16:50 NZDT (03:50 UTC), Sunday 11th November.

We're launching the incredibly exciting @irvinecubesat satellite on our It's Business Time mission. The CubeSat, IRVINE01, was built by high school students in Irvine, California. It's such a privilege to open access to orbit for projects like this.

Fifty-five years ago Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space. We celebrate Valentina and all of the women in aerospace who blazed the trail.

Transcript from Rocket Lab 'Still Testing' attempt 20.01.2018 "Flight VMS, mission coord..." "Go ahead, VMS" "Do you want any hold points?" "Say again" "Do you want any hold points?" "I... didn't get'cha. One more time." "Do you want any hold points? As in, do you want to hold again at T-... 18, or 20?" "I never want to hold again."

Rocket Lab has successfully reached orbit with the test flight of its second Electron orbital launch vehicle, Still Testing. Electron lifted-off at 14:43 NZDT from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand. Following successful first and second stage burns, Electron reached orbit and deployed customer payloads at 8 minutes and 31 seconds after lift-off. Still Testing was carrying a Dove Pioneer Earth-imaging satellite for launch customer Planet, as well as two Lemur-2 satellites for weather and ship tracking company Spire.

Rocket Lab 'Still Testing' Electron launch attempt carried out on Tuesday December 12th 2017 at 16:50 NZDT (03:50 UTC).The vehicle performed a safe auto-sequence abort at T-00:00:02 from lift-off. For real time updates follow Rocket Lab on Twitter at twitter.com/rocketlab

Rocket Lab's goal is to make space accessible by providing unprecedented launches to low Earth orbit. Check out an animation of our Electron rocket in action!

It's a Test - Rocket Lab's Electron 16:20pm Thursday 25 May (NZST)

Rocket Lab has completed qualification and acceptance testing of Electron's first stage booster. Completion of the tests marks the final major technical milestone ahead of first test launch of the Electron vehicle.

Rocket Lab has installed the launch platform at the private orbital launch under development on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. The installation of the almost 50 ton platform is the final major step in preparing the site for the arrival of the first Electron launch vehicle, scheduled to be tested in the coming months. The platform will be used to erect the launch vehicle from a horizontal to a vertical position and provides all of the services to fuel and launch. The strongback, which sits atop the platform, supports the launch vehicle and is retracted just prior to launch. The launch site is the first private orbital launch site in the world, and is set to enable the highest frequency of space launches in history.

April 2016 Rocket Lab has successfully completed the qualification of the entire second stage of the Electron launch vehicle. The second stage is responsible for delivering payloads of 150kg to a nominal 500km sun-synchronous orbit. The second stage uses one 5,000 lbf Rutherford Engine with an extension nozzle optimized for vacuum performance.

April, 2016 The 5,000 lbf Rutherford engine was created by Rocket Lab specifically for the company’s Electron launch vehicle. Rutherford has been tested extensively for over two years, and was qualified for flight after completing more than two hundred engine hot fires. The qualification of the engine is a major milestone for 3D printing; Rutherford is the first oxygen/hydrocarbon engine to use additive manufacturing for all primary components of the combustor and propellant supply system. Rutherford also has a unique electric propulsion cycle, making use of high-performance brushless DC electric motors and lithium polymer batteries to drive its turbopumps.

VLM is a propellant and propulsion system entirely developed by Rocket Lab New Zealand. It has been sponsored by DARPA and ONRG over 2 programs to rapidly develop the technology for use in a wide range of rocket propulsion applications. VLM is a single part high density monopropellant. It currently has performance and density equal or better than current solid fuel propulsion systems but has all the controllability of a liquid system with an ability to throttle arbitrarily, shut down and restart. One of the key aspects of the propellant is that it is a thixotrope. It is a pseudo solid while static in the storage vessel however once some force or shear is applied to the propellant fluid it will thin rapidly. This shear thinning enables the propellant to be injected within the combustion chamber creating optimum combustion and full liquid controllability.

VLM is a propellant and propulsion system entirely developed by Rocket Lab New Zealand. It has been sponsored by DARPA and ONRG over 2 programs to rapidly develop the technology for use in a wide range of rocket propulsion applications. VLM is a single part high density monopropellant. It currently has performance and density equal or better than current solid fuel propulsion systems but has all the controllability of a liquid system with an ability to throttle arbitrarily, shut down and restart. One of the key aspects of the propellant is that it is a thixotrope. It is a pseudo solid while static in the storage vessel however once some force or shear is applied to the propellant fluid it will thin rapidly. This shear thinning enables the propellant to be injected within the combustion chamber creating optimum combustion and full liquid controllability.

High Speed camera launch of a AIM9 Missile analogue

Rocket Lab recently achieved a major milestone for its high density monopropellant (VLM) research by the successful full scale test fire of a motor which is scheduled to fly in November 2012. The research, supported by DARPA and ONR, aims to demonstrate the performance, controllability and safely of the new propulsion system over current state of the art. Viscous Liquid Monopropellant (VLM) is high density Monopropellant aimed at providing a high performance alternative to liquid & solid propulsion. Has the density of a solid and the controllability of a liquid, can be started, stopped and throttled arbitrarily. Storable ~300 ISP @40E vac VLM delivers revolutionary propulsion system performance and cost. Non-Toxic green propellant that is soluble in water for Hydrazine replacement

Atea-1 rocket launch on November 30, 2009 by Rocket Lab from Great Mercury Island, New Zealand. Short version.