~3 minutes

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab will establish a new launch site in Alaska under a $266 million U.S. Space Force contract for up to 18 suborbital missions, expanding the company’s role in military launch services as the Pentagon seeks more capacity for weapons testing.

The contract, which marks the company’s largest launch award to date, was awarded by the Space Systems Command’s Rocket Systems Launch Program and covers 12 launches, with options for six additional missions. The first launch is scheduled no earlier than the end of 2026.

The contract was announced by the U.S. Space Force on July 21. Rocket Lab confirmed July 27 the award will support the development of a new launch site at the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska. This will give the company a fourth launch site alongside its existing facilities in New Zealand and Virginia.

The award further expands Rocket Lab’s role in national security launches beyond its commercial small satellite business. The company has increasingly positioned its Electron-derived HASTE suborbital vehicle as a platform for hypersonic and missile defense testing, completing multiple missions for Pentagon customers in recent years.

The Rocket Systems Launch Program provides responsive launch services for research, development and operational test missions across the Defense Department. The contract announcement did not identify the payloads or specify which launch vehicle Rocket Lab will use.

The award comes as the Pentagon seeks to increase the pace of hypersonic flight testing and missile defense development, areas where defense officials have said limited test infrastructure has slowed progress.

Rocket Lab founder and chief executive Peter Beck said the contract reflects the military’s demand for more frequent launch opportunities to support missile defense programs.

3–4 minutes

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab launched a radar-imaging satellite for Japanese company Synspective on June 26, a flight delayed by a responsive space mission.

The Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 1:43 p.m. Eastern on a mission called “10 Owl of 10” by the company. The payload, a StriX satellite, separated from the rocket’s kick stage 56 minutes later into a 552-kilometer orbit inclined at 42 degrees.

The launch was the 10th Electron mission to carry a Synspective satellite. The Japanese company has relied exclusively on Electron to deploy its satellites and has contracts for 17 more Electron launches. Synspective also has agreements to launch seven spacecraft on future SpaceX rideshare missions.

The launch was scheduled for as early as June 17. However, Rocket Lab said late June 16 that the launch date “is being adjusted to conduct additional checkouts before launch,” without elaborating.

Instead, Rocket Lab performed a responsive launch mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Victus Haze program. The launch took place June 19, also from Launch Complex 1, but it was more than 72 hours before the Space Force or Rocket Lab announced the launch. There were no eyewitness reports of the launch from the remote location, although the payload and upper stage from the launch appeared in the Space Force’s Space-Track database a day later, before the formal announcement of the mission.

The launch was the 12th Electron mission of 2026, including three flights of the HASTE suborbital variant. The most recent HASTE launch took place June 11 from Launch Complex 2 in Virginia. The mission, code-named “Curveball,” resulted in the rocket’s second stage and kick stage reaching a very low orbit and thus being cataloged in Space-Track, although they likely reentered within about a day.

The payload itself was not cataloged, and its fate is not known. Rocket Lab did not announce the launch in advance, and on its website, the launch is listed with no details, including its launch date.

~4 minutes

WASHINGTON — NASA has selected Rocket Lab to launch a pair of science missions on three Electron rockets in 2027.

NASA announced June 25 it selected Rocket Lab to launch its Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer, or PolSIR, and Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2, or TSIS-2, missions on Electron rockets.

PolSIR consists of two 16U cubesats built by Blue Canyon Technologies that will measure the rise and fall of ice crystals in tropical clouds, as well as how those changes in ice affect storm development. The satellites will operate in separate orbits, each inclined at 52 degrees, allowing them to pass over the same area several hours apart to measure changes over the course of each day.

TSIS-2 is a spacecraft that will be the successor to TSIS-1, an instrument mounted on the exterior of the International Space Station. The spacecraft, built by General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, carries instruments to measure the amount of solar energy entering Earth’s atmosphere.

The PolSIR spacecraft will launch on back-to-back Electrons from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand no earlier than June 2027. TSIS-2 will launch on an Electron from Launch Complex 1 in early 2027.

TSIS-2 was originally expected to launch on a Falcon 9 as part of a rideshare mission with other NASA and commercial satellites. The agency did not disclose why it moved TSIS-2 to Electron, but that mission is several years behind its original schedule because of what NASA once described as “challenges” with the spacecraft vendor.

The awards were made under NASA’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare, or VADR, contract vehicle for procuring launches of small satellites. NASA has repeatedly declined to disclose the value of VADR awards, stating that the task orders used under the contract contain company proprietary information.

“Electron has become synonymous with reliability, precise orbital accuracy and on-demand launch capability, and we’ve been delivering this for NASA missions for almost a decade. We’re proud to deliver this once again for PolSIR and TSIS-2,” Peter Beck, chief executive of Rocket Lab, said in a statement.

In addition to PolSIR and TSIS-2, Rocket Lab has an agreement to launch NASA’s Aspera astrophysics smallsat mission, also through the VADR contract. It is expected to launch later this year.

Rocket Lab is separately preparing to launch LOXSAT, a mission to test cryogenic fluid management technologies for NASA through the agency’s Tipping Point technology demonstration program. The LOXSAT mission, led by Eta Space, uses a Rocket Lab Photon spacecraft and is slated to launch later this year.

5–6 minutes

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab launched a spacecraft for the U.S. Space Force to begin a military exercise focused on rapidly identifying and characterizing potential threats in space.

The company on June 19 launched the Victus Haze spacecraft, known as “Victus Haze Puma,” aboard an Electron rocket from the company’s launch site in Mahia, New Zealand. The satellite was developed under a $32 million contract awarded by the Space Force in 2024 and is one of two spacecraft participating in the Victus Haze mission.

The spacecraft was placed into a sun-synchronous orbit and will now undergo commissioning before beginning rendezvous and proximity operations, or RPO, with a spacecraft operated by Colorado-based startup True Anomaly.

“With launch complete, the team will now complete on-orbit checkout and vehicle commissioning, after which RPO operations begin,” Space Systems Command said in a June 22 statement. “During these operations, the teams operating both the Rocket Lab and the True Anomaly space vehicles will conduct a variety of scenarios, demonstrating space domain Awareness and characterization capabilities, each in dynamic engagements with the other.”

Victus Haze is the fourth demonstration under the Space Force’s Tactically Responsive Space, or TacRS, program, which seeks to prove that commercial providers can rapidly launch spacecraft on military timelines while also performing increasingly sophisticated missions once in orbit.

The exercise builds on lessons from the 2023 Victus Nox demonstration, when the Space Force and launch provider Firefly Aerospace launched a satellite within 27 hours of receiving a launch order. While Victus Nox focused primarily on rapid launch, Victus Haze expands the concept to include the ability to quickly deploy spacecraft capable of maneuvering, inspecting and characterizing objects in orbit.

The broader goal is to transform responsive launch from a demonstration effort into an operational military capability. Space Force officials have argued that future conflicts may require the rapid replacement of damaged satellites, deployment of new sensors or launch of spacecraft to investigate suspicious activity in orbit on timelines measured in days rather than months or years.

Under the Victus Haze architecture, the Space Force selected Rocket Lab and True Anomaly to provide separate maneuvering spacecraft that would conduct rendezvous and proximity operations after launch.

The Rocket Lab spacecraft is expected to conduct operations with Jackal-004, a True Anomaly spacecraft already in orbit, rather than waiting for a dedicated Victus Haze vehicle that had been expected to launch separately on a Firefly Aerospace rocket.

Jackal launched May 3 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission carrying South Korea’s CAS500-2 Earth observation satellite. The spacecraft will maneuver and interact with Rocket Lab’s vehicle with during the demonstration.

True Anomaly received a $30 million contract for Victus Haze.

Prior to the Rocket Lab launch, the Space Force’s Space Safari program office directed the company to a “heightened readiness posture” before activating the team into alert status.

Rocket Lab highlighted several milestones achieved during the exercise. After receiving the formal notice-to-launch order from the Space Force’s Space Safari program office, Rocket Lab launched its Electron rocket within 16 hours and 42 minutes, beating the mission’s 24-hour responsive launch requirement.

The company’s guidance, navigation and control team took roughly four hours to calculate a final trajectory to a previously undisclosed orbit, update flight software and coordinate ground stations ahead of launch. Once in orbit, Rocket Lab completed commissioning of its spacecraft in 37 hours and 36 minutes, allowing it to begin orbital maneuvers more than 34 hours ahead of Victus Haze’s 72-hour operational deadline.

“Victus Haze set out to demonstrate our ability to respond to irresponsible behavior on orbit under operationally realistic conditions, and we are doing just that, leveraging commercial partnerships to maximize flexibility and minimize cost,” said Col. Bryon McClain, acting Space Force portfolio acquisition executive for Space Combat Power.

True Anomaly said in a statement that Jackal is “fully operational and ready to execute rendezvous and proximity operations.”

4–5 minutes

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab said May 7 it won new Pentagon-related defense business tied to the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative and to the expanding U.S. push to accelerate hypersonic weapons testing.

Rocket Lab, based in California and New Zealand, provides satellite launch services, spacecraft and defense-related space systems.

The company said it is working with defense contractor Raytheon to demonstrate technologies for the U.S. Space Force’s space-based interceptor program, a key component of Golden Dome, the administration’s proposed layered missile defense architecture intended to counter ballistic, cruise and hypersonic missile threats.

Raytheon is one of 12 companies selected by the Space Force as prime contractors in the space-based interceptor program, intended to deploy missile interceptors in orbit capable of engaging adversary missiles during flight.

Rocket Lab Chief Financial Officer Adam Spice said the company views the Golden Dome interceptor effort as “a very large opportunity, but there are gates that we’ve got to get through,” referring to program milestones required before companies can advance to later phases.

During Rocket Lab’s first-quarter earnings call May 7, Spice said the procurement model requires contractors to commit internal funding upfront in hopes of securing larger production contracts later.

“This is kind of an interesting procurement process for the government where companies like ourselves and Raytheon and others that are in the mix have to put some of their own skin in the game to unlock a potentially very large opportunity in the back end,” Spice said. “We think we’re in a good spot.”

The Space Force’s space-based interceptor effort is being structured using Other Transaction agreements, reducing the government’s upfront costs while encouraging rapid prototyping and competition among vendors. Hypersonic flight tests for Anduril

Separately, Rocket Lab announced an agreement with Anduril Industries for three hypersonic test flights using Rocket Lab’s HASTE suborbital launch vehicle. The launches will take place from the company’s Launch Complex 2 in Virginia, with the first mission expected within 12 months.

The HASTE vehicle, short for Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron, is designed for suborbital hypersonic flight tests and can support experiments involving speeds above Mach 5.

Rocket Lab has positioned HASTE to capture growing demand for testing systems related to hypersonic vehicles, driven both by Pentagon hypersonic weapons programs and by defense contractors developing next-generation missile and aerospace technologies.

The company said the three flights are internally funded by Anduril to accelerate development of hypersonic technologies for defense applications.

Rocket Lab in March announced it won a 20-launch contract to fly hypersonic test missions for the Pentagon. The company said its HASTE-related contracts now account for nearly one-third of its backlog of more than 70 launches.

3–4 minutes

WASHINGTON — A Rocket Lab Electron launched a set of cubesats sponsored by the Japanese space agency JAXA April 22 on the company’s second dedicated mission for the agency.

The Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 11:09 p.m. Eastern on a mission called “Kakushin Rising” by the company. The rocket’s upper stage deployed its payload of eight cubesats into a 540-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit nearly an hour later.

The eight satellites on JAXA’s Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-4 mission were developed by Japanese companies and universities to test advanced technologies in space. Those technologies include a multispectral camera, sensors to detect electromagnetic precursors of earthquakes, and an antenna that unfolds to 25 times its stowed size using origami techniques.

JAXA originally planned to launch those eight cubesats along with a larger technology demonstration satellite, RAISE-4, on an Epsilon rocket. However, that rocket has been grounded since a 2022 launch failure and subsequent issues during static-fire tests of the rocket’s solid-fuel motors.

Because of those problems, JAXA signed a contract with Rocket Lab in October 2025 for two Electron launches, one for RAISE-4 and the other for the cubesats. RAISE-4 successfully launched on an Electron in December.

This launch came a few weeks after the previous orbital Electron launch, carrying a pair of European Space Agency navigation technology demonstration satellites called Celeste. ESA opted to launch Celeste on Electron because of a lack of near-term European launch options for the satellites and a May 2026 deadline to put their reserved frequencies into use.

“Two successful missions in a matter of months, deployed precisely where they needed to be on orbit, shows exactly why Electron is the preferred small launcher for national space agencies,” Peter Beck, chief executive of Rocket Lab, said in a statement. “JAXA is a world leader in space and it’s been an honor to be trusted with these back-to-back missions growing Japan’s aerospace economy.”

The launch for JAXA took place a little more than 24 hours after the suborbital variant of Electron, HASTE, lifted off from Launch Complex 2 at Wallops Island, Virginia. Rocket Lab did not disclose the launch, codenamed “Bubbles,” including the customer for the launch or its outcome. The JAXA mission was the eighth Electron launch overall this year, including two HASTE flights.

2–3 minutes

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab has won a contract from Japanese radar satellite company iQPS for three additional Electron launches.

Rocket Lab announced April 9 it signed a contract with iQPS, or Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, for three Electron launches from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand starting in 2028. The companies did not disclose terms of the contract.

Rocket Lab has launched seven missions for iQPS starting in 2023, with five additional launches already on order before this latest contract. Three of those upcoming launches were ordered in October. The most recent Electron launch for iQPS was in December.

“Our expanded partnership with iQPS is built on our consistent execution across the many missions we’ve launched for them already, and we’re proud to continue delivering their Earth imaging constellation to space as we deepen our role as their primary launch provider,” Brian Rogers, vice president of global launch services at Rocket Lab, said in a statement.

Each Electron launch carries a single iQPS spacecraft as the company builds out its constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellites. The firm has a goal of placing 24 satellites into orbit by 2028 and 36 by 2030 to provide radar imaging with frequent revisit times. The company has relied primarily on Electron for launching those satellites, although a few have launched on SpaceX rideshare missions.

The next iQPS satellite launch on Electron is scheduled for May, both Rocket Lab and iQPS announced.

4–5 minutes

Mynaric manufactures laser communication terminals for terrestrial, airborne and space applications. Credit: Mynaric

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab said has secured approval from German authorities to acquire laser communications firm Mynaric, clearing a key regulatory hurdle for a deal that had faced prolonged scrutiny over national security concerns.

The Long Beach, California-based launch and satellite manufacturer said on March 30 that Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy approved the transaction under foreign investment rules, paving the way for the acquisition to close in April. Rocket Lab first announced the roughly $150 million acquisition in March last year.

The decision follows months of uncertainty around the proposed purchase, which had drawn attention from German officials and lawmakers wary of allowing a supplier of sensitive space technology to fall under foreign ownership. Earlier reports indicated the deal was at risk as Berlin weighed whether Mynaric’s laser communications systems — used in military and commercial satellite networks — should remain under German control.

The approval suggests regulators have concluded those concerns can be managed, even as Europe broadly moves to strengthen domestic control over defense-related technologies.

Rocket Lab has positioned the acquisition as a way to secure a critical component in the satellite supply chain while expanding its presence in Europe. Mynaric, headquartered in Munich, produces optical communications terminals that enable satellites to transmit data via laser links, a technology increasingly central to next-generation constellations.

“Receiving regulatory approval is an important milestone on the path to acquiring Mynaric,” Rocket Lab’s chief executive Peter Beck said in a statement. He added the company expects to expand its support for German and European space programs following the deal’s close. Laser terminals a cornerstone technology

Laser communications systems allow satellites to exchange data at higher rates and with greater resistance to interference than traditional radio-frequency links. The technology is viewed as a cornerstone of proliferated constellations in low Earth orbit, including military networks designed for secure communications and missile tracking.

Despite growing demand, such terminals have been in limited supply, with manufacturers struggling to produce them in high volumes at competitive prices. Rocket Lab said it plans to scale Mynaric’s manufacturing output, applying a strategy it has used in prior acquisitions to increase production and reduce costs for satellite subsystems.

Mynaric will remain headquartered in Munich after the deal closes, establishing Rocket Lab’s first European foothold. The companies already have an established relationship: Mynaric supplies its CONDOR Mk3 optical terminals for Rocket Lab-built satellites under contracts with the U.S. Space Development Agency.

The acquisition would deepen Rocket Lab’s vertical integration, giving it in-house access to a technology that has become a bottleneck for both commercial operators and government programs.

For Germany, the approval marks a balancing act between attracting foreign investment and preserving control over technologies seen as strategically important. Across Europe, governments are increasing defense spending and tightening oversight of cross-border deals as they seek to build more self-reliant industrial bases in space and defense.

4–5 minutes

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab launched the latest in a series of satellites for Japanese radar imaging company Synspective on March 20.

An Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 2:10 p.m. Eastern and deployed Synspective’s StriX satellite 55 minutes later into a planned orbit at an altitude of 573 kilometers and an inclination of 50.2 degrees.

This was the eighth satellite for Synspective, a Japanese company developing a constellation of synthetic aperture radar imaging spacecraft. All of the satellites have been launched on Electron rockets.

Four of the first seven Synspective satellites are in operation. Synspective aims to complete a 30-satellite constellation as soon as 2028.

Synspective will continue to rely primarily on Electron for deploying that constellation. The company signed a contract for 10 additional Electron launches in September 2025. With previous contracts, it has 19 Electron launches under contract through the end of the decade.

Synspective, though, is not relying exclusively on Rocket Lab. The company noted in its annual financial results published in February that it has a launch agreement with SpaceX for five satellites.

The company, which launched three satellites in 2024 and one in 2025, stated in its financial results that it expects to have 10 operational satellites by the end of 2026, implying the launch of six satellites this year. The company is scaling up production with a goal of producing 12 satellites a year starting in 2026.

Synspective reported total revenue of 6.14 billion yen ($38.5 million) in 2025 and an operating loss of 4.14 billion yen. The company’s revenue more than doubled from 2024, but the increase came almost entirely from government subsidies in the form of awards from Japanese government agencies. That included one from Japan’s Space Strategy Fund with a total value of 16.46 billion yen over several years to support increased satellite production.

The company is also part of a satellite constellation project for Japan’s Ministry of Defense. The ministry awarded a contract to Tri-Sat Constellation, a joint venture of Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. and Mitsui & Co., for satellite imagery data. Synspective will provide SAR imagery to Tri-Sat Constellation under a subcontract valued at 96 billion yen over five years.

Synspective, while primarily working with Japanese customers, is expanding in Europe. It announced in February an agreement with Airbus Defence and Space, with Airbus agreeing to buy Synspective SAR imagery. Synspective has also established a European subsidiary, Synspective Europe GmbH, based in Munich.

The launch was the fifth this year for Electron, including one launch of its HASTE suborbital variant. Another Electron is scheduled to launch March 24 carrying two Celeste navigation demonstration smallsats for the European Space Agency.