Rocket Lab christens new pad, confirms will make and launch Neutron in the US

Twice the Electrons: The new Pad B (rear) at Mahia. Photo / Supplied

Rocket Lab staged successfully staged its first launch from its new Mahia pad today (see replay below) - and confirmed that the first launch of its much larger, crew-capable Neutron rocket will be from its new Wallops Island facility in the US state of Virginia.

The Kiwi-American company also said today that it would build a manufacturing complex for the Neutron in Virginia, which it said would create 250 jobs. The new site includes US$45m in funding from the Virginia's state government.

Artist's impression of Rocket Lab's Neutron manufacturing site, which will be built in Virgina close to Launch Complex 2. Image / Supplied

Founder Peter Beck earlier said the Neutron, due for first lift-off in 2024, will launch exclusively from Virginia - in part because of demands from customers like Nasa and the US Department of Defence, but also for reasons of industrial scale.

"To give you a sense of the scale, if we took all the liquid oxygen that's produced in New Zealand, we'd only fill half the tank, let alone all the other kinds of logistics that are associated with these very, very, large launch vehicles."

Today's launch - Rocket Lab's 24th mission and its first of the year - took off from the new Pad B at Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Penninsula this morning.

Founder Peter Beck says the expanded Pad A and Pad B set-up at Mahia will allow for back-to-back launches. And along with his company's new launchpad at Wallops Island in the US state of Virginia, which will shortly go into operation, will allow it to stage up to 132 flights per year.

The frequency of launches this year will increase, Beck told the Herald on Friday, though he wouldn't predict any immediate numbers.

Today we'll be lifting off from our second pad at Launch Complex 1 for the very first time. Since our first orbital launch in January 2018, more than 100 satellites have launched to space on Electron from Pad A. Today it's Pad B's turn. #TheOwlsNightContinues pic.twitter.com/hYzFTAQyyk

— Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) February 28, 2022

Dubbed, "The Owl's Night Continues," today's mission deployed an Earth-imaging satellite for Japanese company Synspective.

The Tokyo-based firm plans a constellation of more than 30 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites designed to collate data of metropolitan centres on a daily basis to support urban development planning, construction and infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response, according to a Rocket Lab mission briefing.