Markets with Madison: Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck takes aim at Musk’s explosion

Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck has concerns for his main competitor Elon Musk’s regard for safety, but other than that, says Musk’s “just a guy”.

Speaking to Markets with Madison from California, where his Kiwi-founded rocket launching company is now based, Beck said the new rocket his company was building, named Neutron, would go “head to head” with Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Neutron is a direct competitor to a SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

“So, that’s certainly a little bit more of a heads to heads approach,” Beck said.

SpaceX was currently testing its super-heavy Starship rocket - it exploded in its first test flight in April.

Beck found one thing “terribly surprising” about that test.

“The flight termination system took 40 seconds to activate, which is is very concerning generally.

“When you terminate a rocket, it should be instantaneous, not nearly a minute later. So, I think that they’re gonna have to do some work to solve that problem.”

Beck proudly stated that Rocket Lab was the only rocket provider to have successfully launched and place satellites into orbit this year - it was seeing more customers such as Nasa to come to it with missions as a result.

“We’ve established ourselves as the the most reliable small launch vehicle, with the second most frequently launched rocket behind SpaceX.”

Watch Beck’s interview in today’s episode of Markets with Madison above.

Get investment analysis and insights from the experts on Markets with Madison every Monday and Friday on the NZ Herald.

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.