Lab enters new frontier
Kiwi-founded Rocket Lab is not ruling out conducting launches from New Zealand of a new breed of rocket it is developing that will be capable of carrying people and heavier loads into space.
The company has announced that it will list on the United States Nasdaq exchange with a valuation of US$4.1 billion (NZ$5.7b) and build a rocket capable of carrying payloads weighing up to 8 tons.
Rocket Lab’s existing Electron rockets are comparatively small, at 18 metres in length, and are only capable of launching satellites with a maximum weight of 300kg.
The company said its new 40 metre-tall ‘‘reusable’’ Neutron rockets would be capable of human spaceflight, deeper space missions, and deploying ‘‘mega constellations’’ of communications satellites in one go.
The largest immediate market for the new rockets would be deploying mega-constellations of small satellites, founder and chief executive Peter Beck said on a conference call.
These fly in formation and are used to deliver broadband from space, but have proved controversial because of concerns they lighten up the night sky.
Rocket Lab is now headquartered in the US, but employs most of its staff in New Zealand where it has launched all its rockets to date from the Ma¯ hia Peninsula near Gisborne. It also has a launch pad for Electrons in Virginia.
Beck said Rocket Lab planned to launch its first Neutron rocket from Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in 2024 and that would be unmanned.
Beck said it would use the shared spaceport because it had ‘‘$1m-worth of infrastructure there ready for us to bolt a rocket to’’, but that Neutrons could ‘‘absolutely’’ be launched from New Zealand.
‘‘The Ma¯ hia launch site is an amazing site with the largest range of launch inclinations.’’
The company said it was assessing locations in America to build a factory that would create ‘‘hundreds of jobs’’ making the new rockets.
But Beck indicated the move into the heavier rocket market would also create work in New Zealand. ‘‘A large proportion of the work will be done here in New Zealand.’’
The company had 90 vacancies in New Zealand and there would be a lot more opportunities, he said.
The Neutron rocket would need new engines but Beck said there was ‘‘a lot of learning’’ that it could transfer across from its Electron programme. ‘‘We were the first to put 3D-printed engines into orbit, so we will be leveraging a lot of that expertise.’’
Rocket Lab will list on the Nasdaq exchange by the end of June through a merger with a listed shell company, Vector Acquisition Corporation, set up for the purpose.
A Nasdaq listing would allow ordinary New Zealanders to invest in the business for the first time, through most sharebrokers.
The US$4.1b valuation will mean Rocket Lab had roughly tripled in value since it raised private capital in a funding round in November 2018, at which time it had only had one commercial flight. It has since gone on to complete another 15 successful launches, with one launch failure.