Rocket Lab to launch new hypersonic rocket from Va.

California-based Rocket Lab USA Inc. will launch its new Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) rocket in Accomack County in the first half of 2023.

The company introduced the suborbital testbed launch vehicle, derived from its Electron rocket, on Monday. Rocket Lab is preparing the HASTE vehicle for launch for a confidential customer at its integration and control facility on Wallops Island, according to a news release. The rocket will launch from the company’s Launch Complex 2 within Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, where the aerospace company launched its 60-foot-tall Electron rocket in January, its first launch from U.S. soil.

“Hypersonic and suborbital test capabilities are key priorities for the nation, yet the [Department of Defense’s] ability to test these systems has been limited,” Brian Rogers, Rocket Lab’s senior director of global launch services, said in a statement. “With HASTE, we’ve taken a proven vehicle in Electron and tailored it specifically to deliver highly capable, frequent and cost-effective hypersonic and suborbital test opportunities from our existing launch site in Virginia.”

Rocket Lab announced in February 2022 that it had selected Wallops Island as the location for its launch site and a new manufacturing and assembly complex for its new, reusable Neutron rocket, a move that is expected to bring 250 jobs.

Rocket Lab National Security, a wholly owned subsidiary, will primarily operate HASTE. HASTE will have a payload capacity of up to 1,540 pounds and options to accommodate larger payloads.

Since 2018, the Electron vehicle has deployed satellites for NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Space Force.

Dynetics, an Alabama-based wholly owned subsidiary of Reston-based Leidos Holdings Inc., has selected Rocket Lab to provide hypersonic test launch capability under a Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane division contract announced in October 2022. The Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit has also selected Rocket Lab to prototype hypersonic launch capability on HASTE in its hypersonic and high-cadence testing capabilities (HyCAT) program. In addition, the company completed a study for the Missile Defense Agency’s Targets and Countermeasures Program to evaluate a variety of payloads on HASTE, which could set the stage for future test flights, the company said in a news release.

Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron rocket and the Photon satellite platform and is developing the Neutron 13-ton payload class launch vehicle. Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, the company has delivered 159 satellites to orbit for private and public organizations. Rocket Lab has two launch pads in New Zealand in addition to its pad in Virginia.