Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

Tag: Rocket Lab USA

Rocket Lab USA launches first US mission for NRO from Wallops

California-based Rocket Lab USA successfully launched a mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office on Thursday from Launch Complex 2 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Accomack County, the aerospace company announced. 

The Eastern Shore mission, dubbed “Live and Let Fly,” was Rocket Lab’s first launch from U.S. soil for the NRO, which builds, designs, launches and maintains reconnaissance satellites and provides satellite intelligence, imaging and other data for the Department of Defense and the intelligence community. Rocket Lab previously launched four successful missions for the agency from New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. 

“We are proud to once again deliver mission success for the NRO on Electron,” Peter Beck, Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO, said in a statement. “The NRO have placed their trust in Rocket Lab since our first launch together in 2020, and it’s an honor to continue delivering dedicated access to orbit for national security missions, this time from the other side of the planet.”

NRO missions provide critical information to a half-million government users, including members of the intelligence community, domestic agencies, the military and lawmakers.

The NRO selected Rocket Lab for the mission through the agency’s Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) contract. The contract process “enables the NRO to explore new opportunities for launching small satellites through a streamlined, commercial approach,” Rocket Lab said in the statement.

Beck added, “The RASR contract process is an innovative, forward-leaning approach from the NRO that has allowed the agency to capitalize on the speed and responsiveness of commercial launch services, and we’re thrilled to make it possible with Electron.”

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.

Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small orbital launch vehicle, the Photon satellite platform and is developing the Neutron.​​ Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle is the second most-frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered more than 180 satellites to orbit for private and public sector organizations, according to the company. 

Rocket Lab has two launch sites in New Zealand in addition to the one at Wallops. The mission was Rocket Lab’s 46th Electron launch overall.

Rocket Lab, Leidos sign contract for 4 rocket launches

California-based Rocket Lab USA has signed a contract with Reston-based Fortune 500 contractor Leidos to launch four Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) missions, the launch company announced Tuesday.

The suborbital testbed launch vehicle missions will lift off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, located at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Accomack County. They are scheduled during 2024 and 2025.

Leidos selected Rocket Lab for hypersonic test launches under the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonics Test Bed (MACH-TB) contract, which the Naval Surface Warfare Center awarded to a Leidos subsidiary in October 2022. Rocket Lab launched its first HASTE rocket, derived from its Electron rocket, on June 17 for Leidos.

“Our first HASTE mission … successfully demonstrated HASTE’s ability to accelerate the cadence of hypersonic flight testing for the nation,” Brian Rogers, Rocket Lab’s senior director of global launch services, said in a statement. “We’re proud to now follow it up with a series of four additional missions for Leidos to support hypersonic technology innovation and technology maturation.”

Rocket Lab National Security, the company’s wholly owned subsidiary focused on the defense and intelligence communities, operates the HASTE program.

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 171 satellites to orbit for private and public organizations. Rocket Lab has two launch pads in New Zealand in addition to its pad in Virginia.

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.

Rocket Lab to boost Eastern Shore space biz

The Eastern Shore and Accomack County are well-acquainted with the rockets’ red glare.

One of the oldest launch sites in the world, the NASA Wallops Flight Facility launched its first rocket on July 4, 1945. Given its history, it seems fitting that Wallops’ rocket business got a big payload boost in late February when California-based Rocket Lab USA announced plans to build a 250,000-square-foot facility on Accomack’s Wallops Island for manufacturing Rocket Lab’s reusable Neutron rockets. The company also plans to construct a new launch pad.

“Neutron is huge for the Eastern Shore,” says Ted Mercer, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, known as Virginia Space, which owns and operates the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops.

“They’re going to bring 250 jobs,” Mercer says of Rocket Lab, adding that while most if not all of the positions are expected to be in Accomack, exact details aren’t yet known.

The state’s aerospace and unmanned systems industry workforce is projected to grow by 8.5% during the next decade, according to state Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick.

“The growth potential is huge in the future,” Mercer says, adding that as of 2018, the “Wallops Cluster” made up of NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Northrop Grumman Corp., the Navy and Virginia Space, among
others, had an annual economic impact of $1.37 billion on the Eastern Shore.

Accomack County Administrator Mike Mason estimates that the Neutron program at buildout will generate roughly $2 million in direct annual property tax revenue to the county, which would increase the county’s total property tax revenues by roughly 6%.

“We’re a rural county,” says Supervisor Ron Wolff, who represents the district where the project will unfold. For Accomack, 250 jobs is “staggering; we’re scrambling to find places to put them all,” he says, adding it would be about a year before new workers start arriving.

Accomack’s planning commission has already recommended building a 140-unit townhouse development roughly 20 minutes from Wallops, Wolff says.

Rocket Lab broke ground on Neutron’s production facility in April, but a spokesperson declined to provide details on the construction’s timeline or the rocket’s launch. Virginia committed to an incentive package valued at about $57 million,
and Rocket Lab expects to spend about $103 million supporting Neutron’s development in the state over the next eight years.

Accomack has a strong relationship with NASA and Virginia Space, Mason says: “When they succeed, we succeed.”  

Rocket Lab USA picks Va. for rocket launch site and manufacturing facility

Rocket Lab USA Inc. has selected Wallops Island as the location for its launch site and a new manufacturing and assembly complex for its new Neutron rocket, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Monday.

The move is expected to create as many as 250 jobs.

Rocket Lab will launch Neutron from a new launch pad owned by the Virginia Commercial Space Authority that will be located within the NASA Wallops Flight Facility and Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on the Eastern Shore. The 250,000-square-foot complex will be built on 28 acres next to the flight facility, which was purchased by the flight authority in 2021. It will be located near Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2, the company’s first launch site in the United States, which was built for its Electron rocket.

“Virginia’s industrial and innovation ecosystem and skilled workforce make the commonwealth an optimal location for industry leaders like Rocket Lab,” Youngkin said in a news release announcing the selection. “This important project reinforces the Eastern Shore’s legacy as an aerospace hub that offers the infrastructure for manufacturing and developing new technologies, and we look forward to a long partnership with Rocket Lab.”

Rocket Lab revealed details about Neutron in December 2021. The reusable rocket is designed to lift 8-tons of payload and expected to provide launch capabilities for satellite mega-constellations, deep space missions and human spaceflight, according to the company’s website. Neutron is expected to be operational in late 2024.

“Neutron is a new generation of rocket that will advance the way space is accessed, and Virginia makes perfect sense as Neutron’s home base,” Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said, adding that the state is one of four that have a Federal Aviation Administration spaceport license for missions to Earth orbit or on interplanetary trajectories.

Rocket Lab will begin construction promptly. The company recently landed a $24 million development contract from U.S. Space Force’s Systems Command in support of Neutron’s capability to aid national security and defense missions, according to the company.

“(Virginia’s) position on the Eastern Seaboard is the ideal location to support both Neutron’s frequent launch cadence and the rocket’s return-to-Earth capability of landing back at its launch site after lift-off,” he said.

Beck said the company will also be able to draw on the state’s experienced aerospace workforce, which is expected to grow 8.5% during the next decade, said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Long Beach, California, Rocket Lab delivers launch services, spacecraft components, satellites, other spacecraft and management solutions to make space access faster, easier and cheaper. The company also designed and manufactures the Electron small orbital launch vehicle and the Photon satellite platform. Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, the Electron has delivered 109 satellites to orbit for private and public sector organizations for national security, scientific research, space debris mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring, and communications operations. It is the second-most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually since 2019, according to the release.

Its Photon platform has been selected to support NASA missions to the moon, Mars and the first private commercial mission to Venus, according to the company.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Accomack County, the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (Virginia Space), and the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment (MEI) Project Approval Commission to close the deal. The state will support the project with $30 million appropriated to Virginia Space for infrastructure and operational systems, subject to legislative approval. The MEI commission also approved up to $15 million to support site improvements and construction of a building to be owned by Virginia Space and leased to Rocket Lab.

Rocket Lab’s job creation will be supported by Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, the Virginia Community College System and other higher education partners.