A company statement added: “The contract establishes Rocket Lab’s position as a leading satellite prime contractor, providing supply chain diversity to the Department of Defense (DoD) through vertical integration. The contract comprises $489 million base plus $26 million of incentives and options and will be carried out by Rocket Lab National Security (RLNS), the company’s wholly owned subsidiary created to serve the unique needs of the US defence and intelligence community and its allies.”
It will build 18 satellites for the Space Development agency at its Longbeach, US, facility and will integrate subsystems and components built in-house by Rocket Lab, including solar panels, structures, star trackers, reaction wheels, radio, flight software, avionics, and launch dispenser, scheduled for launch in 2027.
“This contract marks the beginning of Rocket Lab’s new era as a leading satellite prime builder. We’ve methodically executed on our strategy of developing and acquiring experienced teams, advanced technology, manufacturing facilities, and a robust spacecraft supply chain to make this possible. It’s exciting to now be delivering this capability for government and commercial customers alike,” Rocket Lab founder and chief executive Peter Beck said.
A statement from the USSDA said the satellites would be part of a constellation that would provide “global communication access and deliver persistent global encrypted connectivity to support missions like beyond line of sight targeting and missile warning and missile tracking of advance missile threats”.
Rocket Lab yesterday also announced it will launch a new mission from Māhia, no earlier than January 18.
The “Four of a Kind” mission will deploy four space situational awareness (SSA) satellites for Spire Global’s customer NorthStar Earth & Space.
“NorthStar´s satellites, built and operated by Spire, will be the first to simultaneously monitor all near-Earth orbits from space, delivering a radically enhanced level of SSA services to the global satellite community, with timely and precise information for space object detection, tracking, orbit determination, collision avoidance, navigation, and proximity alerts,” a company statement said.
As a secondary mission, Rocket Lab will be attempting to splash down and retrieve Electron’s first stage as part of the company’s plan to evolve Electron into a reusable rocket.
“After launch and stage separation, Electron’s first stage will return to Earth under a parachute and splash down in the Pacific Ocean several hundred kilometres down range from Launch Complex 1. Rocket Lab’s recovery vessel will extract the stage from the water for transportation back to Rocket Lab’s production complex where it will undergo detailed analysis.”
Rocket Lab is not launching any pre-flown engines as part of this mission.
“With each recovery mission we iterate toward Electron re-usability and with recent launches we’ve made significant leaps forward with more successful splashdowns, recoveries and the first launch of a pre-flown Rutherford engine,” Mr Beck said.
“We’re looking forward to putting advanced heat-shielding and waterproofing systems to the test on this mission as one of the final steps before re-flying an entire first stage. To launch an advanced mission like this with Spire as a mission partner is a real privilege, as they were on our very first orbital mission in 2018. To be partnered up again and both still pushing boundaries with new technology and capabilities all these years later is a great full circle moment.”
