Via Satellite reports, “Rocket Lab reached a new record for revenue and annual launches in 2025, but its sunny financial progress was clouded by another delay for the first Neutron launch. Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck told investors on Thursday that after a stage 1 tank ruptured during testing in January, Rocket Lab uncovered a manufacturing defect in the tank. The company is making minor design changes to the first stage tank, which will now have to undergo a test and qualification campaign. This pushes the first launch to the fourth quarter of this year. ”
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Tag: Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab Launches South Korean Disaster-Monitoring Satellite After Delay
SPACE reports, “Rocket Lab launched a South Korean disaster-monitoring satellite from New Zealand on Thursday (Jan. 29), about six weeks later than originally planned. A 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) Electron rocket launched the ‘Bridging the Swarm’ mission from Rocket Lab’s New Zealand site on Thursday at 8:21 p.m. EST (0121 GMT and 2:21 p.m. local New Zealand time on Jan. 30).”
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Rocket Lab launches the “Bridging the Swarm” mission from New Zealand. (Launch occurs at the 52:02 mark)
Space Affairs; YouTube
Rocket Lab Sends First Open Cosmos Satellites Into Polar Orbit
Space News reports, “A Rocket Lab Electron launched the first satellites for a new constellation being developed by Open Cosmos that will use spectrum previously assigned to Rivada Space Networks. The Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 5:52 a.m. Eastern Jan. 22. It deployed two satellites into a circular polar orbit at an altitude of about 1,050 kilometers one hour and nine minutes after liftoff.”
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Video
RocketLab Electron Launch from New Zealand (Launch takes place at the 23:07 mark)
The Launch Pad | YouTube
Rocket Lab Closes Record-Breaking Year With Successful Electron Launch
Space News reports, “Rocket Lab successfully launched a Japanese radar imaging satellite Dec. 21 in the final flight of a record-setting year for the company. An Electron rocket lifted off at 1:36 a.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. The rocket deployed its payload, the QPS-SAR-15 satellite for Japanese company iQPS, into a 575-kilometer orbit at an inclination of 42 degrees about 50 minutes later. The satellite later made contact with controllers, iQPS said.”
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Rocket Lab Launches STP-S30 DiskSat Mission From Wallops Island
Via Satellite reports, “A Rocket Lab Electron rocket carrying the Pentagon’s Space Test Program (STP) S30 mission lifted off from the Virginia Spaceport Authority’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia, on Thursday, according to U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command. S30 has four research and development, Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) DiskSat satellites, funded by NASA and developed by Aerospace Corp. as an alternative to cube satellites.”
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Video
Rocket Lab Electron launches Space Test Program (STP) S30 mission (Launch occurs at the 49:44 mark)
NASASpaceFlight; YouTube
Rocket Lab Readies Electron for Space Force–NASA DiskSat Test Flight
Space News reports, “A U.S. Space Force and NASA experiment is set to launch later this week to test a new small-satellite architecture designed for operations in very low Earth orbit. Four flat, disk-shaped satellites known as DiskSats are scheduled to launch no earlier than 12:00 a.m. Eastern on Dec. 18 aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. The mission, designated STP-S30, was accelerated from an initial target of spring 2026.”
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Rocket Lab Launches JAXA Tech Demo Satellite atop an Electron Rocket
Space News reports, “A Rocket Lab Electron rocket successfully launched a technology demonstration satellite for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on Dec. 13 as the company reshuffles its launch manifest. The Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 10:09 p.m. Eastern. The payload, JAXA’s Rapid Innovative Payload Demonstration Satellite-4, or RAISE-4, was deployed into a 540-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit nearly 55 minutes later.”
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Rocket Lab Completes Final Tests On Reusable ‘Hungry Hippo’ Fairing Ahead of 1st Neutron Rocket Launch
SPACE reports, “Rocket Lab is getting ready to take a bigger bite out of the space launch market. The company recently completed final qualification tests on the fairing that will crown its newest launch vehicle, the partially reusable Neutron, which is expected to fly for the first time early next year.”
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Rocket Lab Successfully Launches HASTE Vehicle with Payloads for MDA and DIU
Defense Daily reports, “Rocket Lab [RKLB] on Tuesday announced the successful launch of a suborbital mission using its HASTE launch vehicle with missile defense technology payloads operating for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and Defense innovation Unit (DIU). The company said the launch took place at its Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Va., on the morning of Nov. 18.”
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Rocket Lab Postpones First Neutron Launch Until 2026
Space News reports, “Rocket Lab has delayed the first launch of its reusable Neutron rocket to 2026, saying it wants to maximize the chances that the flight will be a success.”
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