In recent news,
Rocket Lab is expanding into a new 24,000+ sq ft facility in Auckland. They will use this facility to house a new production line for satellite components as well as to assist with the Electron and Neutron programs.
Last week, Rocket Lab had yet another
successful launch! This makes five successful launches this year over seven months, and eight back-to-back successful launches since the last failure. They really do seem to be reaching a monthly launch cadence. Compare this to Astra's track record this year of three launch attempts and two failures, and Virgin Orbit's two launches this year. Rocket Lab has launched more payloads into orbit this year than both Astra and Virgin Orbit combined.
Earlier this month, Rocket Lab introduced a new "
Responsive Space Program" where Rocket Lab can partner with other companies to have a rocket on call to be ready to rapidly launch a payload into orbit within 24 hours of payload arrival to the launch site. I wonder if we will see any of these launches soon?
I am eager to learn more about what is going on with the Neutron factory in Virginia. There have been
no updates since the groundbreaking ceremony three months ago. Hopefully they will give an update on Neutron in their next
earnings call on August 11th.
In other news, Relativity Space has reached a
$1.2B order backlog, despite having launched nothing to orbit. They are still gearing up to
launch their first Terran 1 prototype rocket later this summer. Compare this to Rocket Lab's $551M order backlog. Clearly, there is more money to be made from larger rockets like the Terran R. Rocket Lab can't get the Neutron flying fast enough!