Welcome to Wallops Island, Virginia. This episode takes you behind the construction of Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex-3 where it's preparing for Neutron rocket to take flight.
On the Atlantic coastline, within Nasa’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, stands an 86-metre-tall water tower, painted black and stamped with a Rocket Lab logo.
It’s one of the more evident infrastructure developments at the site where the New Zealand-United States space company is preparing to launch its new rocket, Neutron.
The tower will flow 200,000 gallons of water into the base of Neutron as it launches, to suppress the sound which would otherwise cause a vibration strong enough to obliterate the rocket.
The rocket’s launch pad will be three storeys high – its base has been dug out and poured with concrete, with piles cemented into the side to eventually hold the rocket’s base.
“The construction takes a while and that’s been the longest pull,” Rocket Lab’s head of US test and launch Aaron Kuipers told Markets with Madison on a tour of the launch site.
“Now, we can start to see a lot of movement in terms of what’s being constructed on the surface.”
It marks the first time anyone outside the company has filmed the progress made at the site since Rocket Lab announced it was building a larger, medium-lift rocket to compete with SpaceX in early 2021.
Neutron was set to launch in mid-2025 – a slight schedule change from an earlier target for the end of 2024.
The company’s new launchpad under construction for Neutron, named Launch Complex 3 (aka. LC-3), is walking distance from its Launch Complex 2 where Rocket Lab launches its small-lift Electron rocket into low-earth orbit.
The scale and capabilities of LC-3 for Neutron are much larger, given the new rocket will carry 43 times more mass to orbit than Electron, and will land on the three-storey launchpad to be reused.
Rocket Lab's head of US test and launch Aaron Kuipers (right) took Markets with Madison on a tour of its Neutron launchpad under construction in Virginia.
The liquid oxygen tanks on the new site could hold 90,000 gallons of fuel, compared with 3000-gallon tanks on LC-2.
The LOX acts as an oxidiser, to be mixed with fuel, Kuipers said.
Neutron’s mix will be LOX and methane, called Methalox, compared with Electron’s LOX and kerosene mix.
“[Methalox] burns cleaner, and that way when the rocket lands, we capture it, it’ll be a cleaner engine that we can return to flight.” Kuipers said.
A short drive from the launchpad, a new integration facility has been built – when operational this will be Neutron’s home where a dedicated engineering team will assemble, check and test rockets before flight.
See Rocket Lab’s US launch site and facilities for yourself in today’s episode of Markets with Madison above.
Get investment insights from executives and experts on Markets with Madison every Monday and Friday here on the NZ Herald, on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
Madison and video producer Corey Fleming flew Auckland-New York courtesy of Qantas.
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Disclaimer: The information provided in this programme is of a general nature, and is not intended to be personalised financial advice. We encourage you to seek appropriate advice from a qualified professional to suit your individual circumstances.
Madison Reidy is the host and executive producer of the NZ Herald’s investment show Markets with Madison. She joined the Herald in 2022 after working in investment, and has covered business and economics for television and radio broadcasters.
