Rocket Lab has hit back at an apparent US congressional memo saying the Kiwi-American firm had ‘misrepresented’ the launch readiness of Neutron – the giant new rocket scheduled for its first test flight by year’s
end. The Herald is also publishing for the first time comments by founder and chief executive Peter Beck on whether Neutron will hit that target.

“It’s disappointing to see what appears to be a concerted effort to stymie this competition by attempting to cast doubt on the capability of new entrants,” Rocket Lab spokeswoman Morgan Bailey told the Herald.

“Obviously, we have attracted the attention of some competitors who don’t like being challenged, but we don’t shy away from a challenge.

“We recognise the critical importance of competition in providing resilience and value for national security space launches.

“We have set ourselves an aggressive timeline to bring Neutron to market, but we have a track record of developing and operationalising launch sites and a new rocket on industry-leading timelines,” Bailey said.

“We take pride in sharing frequent and detailed transparent updates about Neutron’s development progress and will continue to do so.”

Investors weren’t rattled by the dig, either, with Rocket Lab shares up 0.4 per cent to US$4.61 in late Nasdaq trading. The stock is up 3.8 per cent over the past five days – which have included the firm’s latest quarterly financial report (which was broadly in line with preliminary results issued on January 29).

In a February 29 report, Tech Crunch said it had viewed an internal congressional memo that “casts strong doubt on Rocket Lab’s claim that its Neutron rocket will be ready for launch in time to meet a crucial contract deadline from [US military agency] Space Force”.

The memo also said, according to Tech Crunch: “In light of public reporting and media pressure, Rocket Lab has escalated their [sic] campaign to misrepresent their launch readiness … Public records and information available to staff confirm that Neutron has no credible path to launch by [December 15, 2024]”

A giant leap

Neutron, which will launch exclusively from a new launchpad being constructed in Virginia, will be able to lift an 8-tonne payload into low-Earth orbit, compared to the 300kg of the Electron rocket the firm uses today.

It will be self-landing and – although it’s not part of the initial mission plans – capable of ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station.

It’s poised to undercut the mainstay rocket used by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the Falcon 9 (although Musk’s rocket is capable of a larger payload).

Speaking at a conference in London last year, Rocket Lab chief financial officer Adam Spice said, “If you look at the sticker price of a Falcon 9 launch, it’s about US$67 million ($105m). We’re pricing Neutron to a US$50-US$55m launch service cost.”

All up, it will cost about US$750m to develop Neutron, including funds from the firm’s IPO and the US$355m convertible note it closed last month.

In 2021, the US Air Force’s Space Force wing chipped in US$24.35 million of Congressionally-approved funding to help develop Neutron’s upper stage. Crucially, Rocket Lab reportedly got access to new “Lane 1″ funding under a new programme that prioritised emerging players.

Space Force is also a major Rocket Lab customer. The firm has confirmed a US$515m contract with the US military’s Space Development Agency (part of Space Force) to design, build and operate 18 space vehicles for the US Government between 2027 and 2033. It is Rocket Lab’s largest single contract.

The SDA’s explanation of what Rocket Lab would be doing for it was jargon-heavy, but it was part of its broader role as the operator of the Pentagon’s network of military satellites, titled Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The apparent congressional memo is framed as Uncle Sam keeping an eye on his investment. Tech Crunch says it “was written by congressional staffers and circulated on Wednesday to other offices, including those in the Senate Armed Services Committee.”

Additionally, the US state of Virginia has chipped in US$45 million toward the various Wallops facilities that will support the Neutron launch.

What Beck told the Herald

In a February 12 interview (centred on a space junk mission), the Herald asked Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck: “Your target to have your first Neutron flight by the end of the year – how are you tracking with that?”

He replied:

“Look, at the end of the day, it’s a rocket programme. So we’re in that moment where we have lots of hardware turning up. And, currently, the schedule says we can get something on the pad by the end of the year.

“But I always caution everybody that if we have a failure of any of those major tests then that, obviously, affects the schedule.

“But where we are currently sitting today, we feel confident we can put something on the pad by the end of the year. But I always preface that with ‘it’s a rocket programme’.”

In a February 9 investor presentation and conference call with analysts, Beck and Spice offered a lengthy update on Neutron – in which they ticked off milestones and outlined major pieces of work scheduled for the second half of the year.

And in a Q&A with analysts after the call, Beck reiterated that, all going to plan, Neutron could still “be on the pad” by the end of this year.

Asked if Rocket Lab could achieve a previously-essayed five Neutron launches next year, Beck replied, “If we get one away this year, then next year we’d look to do sort of three and then we may be able to step it up to as much as five.”

Will the pad be ready in time?

Tech Crunch highlighted the latest RFP (request for proposal) document from the state-backed Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, which is involved in the construction of a launchpad, within the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Nasa’s Wallops Flight Facility, that will be used by Neutron. It was issued on February 14 this year and lists a completion date of November 29 – “which leaves a scant two weeks until the launch deadline,” Tech Crunch said.

Asked about the launchpad construction deadline, Bailey referred the Herald to comments made by Beck and Spice on yesterday’s conference call.

“Launch Complex 3 in Virginia is taking shape nicely,” Beck told analysts.

“The team has completed initial piles and concrete foundations work for the water tower, locks tank, and, of course, the launch mounts.”

An investor presentation offered photos (below) of the construction site.

It added that “long-lead procurements” including LOx (liquid oxygen) storage and transfer systems were due to arrive on-site in the third quarter. (Earlier, Beck said New Zealand’s inability to manufacture enough LOx for even a single launch was one factor in basing the Neutron in the US – although the main factor was US government customers wanting local launches. Electron will continue to launch from both Virginia and Mahia).

How is the rocket coming along?

“Things start to move very quickly in composites from here, so expect to see some more structure resembling a complete Neutron in coming months,” Beck told analysts.

“And it’s been a big few months for the propulsion team bringing the Archimedes engine to life.”

Archimedes is the new engine that will power the Neutron.

“All of the engine components are complete or in final production for the first engine and once integrated testing is complete, we’ll start to see some fire [test engine firings at Rocket Lab’s new facility in Mississippi] and can move into production of those flight engines following successful test campaigns.”

And engine test firing?

In September 2022, Rocket Lab said a 10-year lease on a 93,000 sq m space within Nasa’s Stennis Space Centre in Mississippi to build an Archimedes Test Complex.

Beck said on yesterday’s call: “Now over to Mississippi, where Archimedes test stand is ready for hot-fire at Nasa Stennis, all the major concrete and steel construction work is complete and commissioning of the locks cold flow systems is underway.

“We’re on track for the stand to support an engine by the end of March.

“After that, we’ll really start to see some fire, which would be good, Beck said.

Production infrastructure

“On the Neutron production infrastructure: In Q4 [last year], we announced we are establishing space structures complex in Middle River, Maryland, in the former Lockheed Martin vertical launch building,” Beck said.

“This facility will be home to the development and production of a wide range of large composite structures and products for both launch and space systems, including Neutron.

“Just a couple of months after taking over the building, we’ve readied the facility to accept and install the large-scale production equipment, including our automated fibre placement machine, which is really the key to rapid repeatable production of Neutron’s composition structures.”

The investor presentation showed a four-storey automated fibre replacement machine, which was described as “nearing completion, enabling autonomous production of Neturon’s composite structures at full scale.”

Some friends in Congress, too

As well as R&D at its Auckland headquarters, Rocket Lab is utilising locations across the US in the design, manufacture and ultimate launch of Neutron.

The far-flung US locations are partly due to Rocket Lab’s series of acquisitions; partly happenstance (Beck’s company picked up a giant Virgin Orbin production facility in Los Angeles for a song in a bankruptcy auction after Sir Richard Branson’s firm went to the wall), partly through state government largesse (in Virginia’s case) and partly because it’s leasing space from Nasa – which has a wide geographic spread – at key facilities.

It’s a mix of reasons, but the upshot is that senators from many states have become Rocket Lab boosters, seeing the Kiwi-American firm as a vehicle to draw high-tech jobs and investment to their states.

Analysts see a roll for Neutron in an expanding commercial satellite market, and in the context that the US military and Nasa need a strong rival to SpaceX for commercial and redundancy reasons – particularly in the context of the Ukraine conflict eliminating contract launches by Russia.

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.