Rocket Lab wins US$32m contract to help US military rapidly respond to threats in space

A Rocket Lab staffer during the Kiwi-American firm's NROL-123 'Live and Let Fly' launch from Launch Complex 2 in Virginia last month. The rocket carried an experimental satellite payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in the US and the NZDF for communications research.

Rocket Lab has won a US$32 million ($53m) contract to contribute to the Tactically Responsive Space Mission known as “Victus Haze” in a push to give the US military’s Space Force wing the ability to rapidly respond to threats from space.

The Kiwi-American firm’s shares jumped 4.5 per cent to US$3.91 on the news but still languish well below their 2021 listing price of US$10.00.

Rocket Lab was one of two firms awarded Victus Haze work. The other was the Colorado-based True Anomalogy, a military “spacecraft and AI” business and the maker of the “Jackel” satellite designed to inspect potential security risks in orbit. True Anomaly was awarded work worth US$30m ($50m).

Rocket Lab and True Anomaly will both work on a “hot-standby” system that will ultimately be able to deploy a satellite to inspect a potential space threat within 24 hours.

A demonstrator mission is planned for next year.

Rocket Lab’s order book is increasingly dominated by US military work.

Earlier this week, the firm said it had been awarded a US$14.4m ($24m) contract for work on Space Force’s Space Test Program (STP) - which seeks to develop “very low Earth orbit” flight capability, with a craft orbiting just 250 to 300km above the planet, or about half the usual low Earth orbit altitude for closer observation of trouble-spots.

The first STP launch is targeted for 2026 from Rocket Labs’ Launch Complex 2 in Virginia.

And in January, Rocket Lab confirmed a US$515m ($858m) contract - easily its largest ever - to design, manufacture and launch 18 satellites for the Pentagon. The first will launch in 2027.

The “Defense Prime” contract was awarded by Space Force’s Space Development Agency, which is building a mesh network of military satellites in low Earth orbit known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

Whatever their views, NZ regulators and lawmakers are on the sideline for these contracts. All of the work will be carried out in the US by Rocket Lab’s fully-owned US-registered subsidiary Rocket Lab National Security, formed in 2022 “to serve the defence and intelligence community”.

Sail away, sail away, sail away 🎵🛰️

Our next-generation solar sail technology will launch from New Zealand aboard @RocketLab’s Electron rocket later this month. Learn more about the mission that will be sailing on sunlight: https://t.co/KGK5xDg2kn pic.twitter.com/c6KbwDeoMg

— NASA Ames (@NASAAmes) April 10, 2024

Regardless, in February 2022 NZ signed on for the Combined Space Operations initiative, described as: “A military space initiative consisting of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.”

Signatories were framed as partners in national security space operations, “prepared to protect and defend against hostile space activities in accordance with relevant international law”.

In other Rocket Lab news this week, Nasa confirmed a test satellite powered by its next-generation solar sail will be launched by Rocket Lab from Mahia later this month.

This Electron has been to space and back. Now it's getting ready to go again.

For the first time, a recovered Electron stage has been returned to the production line to undergo final acceptance and qualification testing in preparation for reflight.

Full details:… pic.twitter.com/di1UaEGIks

— Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) April 10, 2024

The firm also announced that its first previously-flown Electron rocket first stage had returned to the production line, after being fished out of the the Pacific after a parachute splashdown in January.

Once testing is complete, it will be line to become Rocket Lab’s first reused rocket.

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.