Tag: Peter Beck

Rocket Lab Raises $140 Million in Funding

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Electron It’s Business Time lift-off (Credits: Kieran Fanning & Sam Toms)
  • Rocket Lab reveals $140 million (USD) funding in Series E financing, closed in advance of the company’s second successful orbital mission, ‘It’s Business Time’ on 11 November.
  • Investors show continued ardent support in pre-‘It’s Business Time’ launch round led by existing backers Future Fund (Australia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund), with participation from current investors Greenspring Associates, Khosla Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, DCVC (Data Collective), Promus Ventures, and K1W1.
  • New investor, the Accident Compensation Corporation of New Zealand (ACC), also joins the round.
  • Funding will support continued Electron vehicle production expansion, new launch sites and three new major research and development programs.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., November 15, 2018 (Rocket Lab PR) – US orbital launch provider Rocket Lab has closed a Series E financing round of $140 million (USD). The funding round closed last month, prior to the launch of the successful mission ‘It’s Business Time,’ and was led by existing investor Future Fund, with strong participation from current investors including Greenspring Associates, Khosla Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, DCVC (Data Collective), Promus Ventures and K1W1. New investor ACC also contributed to the round. The Series E round close brings total Rocket Lab funding to date to more than $288 million (USD), with the company now soaring past its previous $1 billion-plus (USD) valuation.

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Video: CNBC Interviews Rocket Lab Founder Peter Beck

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Video Caption: Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket comes at a price tag that’s only a fraction of the $50 million or more it costs to launch a larger rocket. How will that revolutionize the industry and expand who will be able to send satellites into space? Rocket Lab put seven spacecraft in orbit on Saturday with its first commercial launch, as the company grew its lead in the burgeoning small rocket industry.

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Rocket Lab Selects Wallops Island for U.S. Launch Site

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Electron launch (Credit: Rocket Lab)

RICHMOND, Va. (Virginia Governor’s Office PR)—Governor Ralph Northam announced today that Rocket Lab, a California-based company, has chosen Virginia Space and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport as the location for Launch Complex-2 (LC-2), Rocket Lab’s first launch facility located in the United States.

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Rocket Lab Signs Contract to Launch First Satellites for Kleos Space Constellation

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Electron rocket on the launch pad. (Credit: Rocket Lab)

LUXEMBOURG and HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., 19 September 2018 (Rocket Lab/Kleos Space PR) — US orbital launch provider Rocket Lab has signed a contract with Luxembourg-based satellite technology company Kleos Space to launch the scouting mission satellites that will geolocate maritime radio to guard borders, protect assets and save lives.

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Rocket Lab Postpones Next Electron Launch to November

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Electron launch (Credit: Rocket Lab)

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (Rocket Lab PR) — Rocket Lab, a US orbital launch provider for the small satellite industry, has confirmed it will launch two Electron rockets just weeks apart in late 2018.

Rocket Lab’s It’s Business Time mission will launch in November, with the ELaNa XIX mission for NASA to follow soon after in December. Both missions will launch from Rocket Lab’s private orbital launch pad in New Zealand, Launch Complex-1.

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Rocket Lab Electron Launch Postponed Due to Weather

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Spaceflight to Launch Smallsats for Canon, BlackSky & Others on 3 Rocket Lab Flights

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Electron launch (Credit: Rocket Lab)

SEATTLE, Wash. – June 11, 2018 (Spaceflight PR) – Spaceflight, the leading satellite rideshare and mission management provider, announced today it has partnered with Rocket Lab for three upcoming launches. The first Electron mission, scheduled for the end of 2018, will launch a BlackSky microsat along with several rideshare customers. The second mission will launch satellites from commercial and government organizations in early 2019, and the third mission, also scheduled for early 2019, will launch a spacecraft from Canon Electronics.
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Rocket Lab Sets Launch Window for First Electron Flight

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Electron lifts off on maiden flight from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. (Credit: Rocket Lab)

Huntington Beach, Calif., Friday 25 May 2018 (Rocket Lab PR)  — US orbital launch provider Rocket Lab has today confirmed the new launch window for the upcoming ‘It’s Business Time’ mission. The 14-day launch window will open from 23 June to 6 July (NZST), with launch opportunities between 12:30 – 16:30 NZST daily (00:30 – 04:30 UTC).

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Rocket Lab & York Space Systems Team to Develop Rapid Response Launch Capability

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First Electron rocket on launch pad. (Credit: Rocket Lab)

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. and AUKLAND, NZ, April 18, 2018 (NanoRacks/York Space Systems PR) — US orbital launch provider Rocket Lab and spacecraft platform developer York Space Systems have entered into an MOU to develop a universal Interface Control Document (ICD) and supporting Concepts of Operations (CONOPS) that will streamline the manifesting process for small satellite launch customers.

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Rocket Lab Successfully Tested Kick Stage During Electron Flight

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Electron kick stage deploying satellite. (Credit: Rocket Lab)

Huntington Beach, California and Auckland, New Zealand (Rocket Lab PR): Rocket Lab, a US aerospace company with operations in New Zealand, has successfully tested a previously unannounced kick stage on the Still Testing Electron launch vehicle, using it to circularize the orbits of the two Spire Lemur-2 CubeSats on board.

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Rocket Lab to Open Electron Launch Window on Jan. 20

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Eelectron rocket on the launch pad. (Credit: Rocket Lab)

AUKLAND, January 11, 2018 (Rocket Lab PR) — Rocket Lab, a US aerospace company with operations in New Zealand, will open a nine-day launch window from Saturday January 20, 2018 (NZDT) to carry out the company’s second test launch of the Electron rocket. During this time a four-hour launch window will open daily from 2:30 p.m. NZDT.

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Rocket Lab Aims for October Launch

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Electron lifts off on maiden flight from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. (Credit: Rocket Lab)

It looks as if the next Electron flight test will take place in late October.

The second of Rocket Lab’s three planned test flights is scheduled later this year. If that launch goes well, the company will likely delete the third demonstration mission, and the first commercial Electron flight could be ready for takeoff by the end of December, [CEO Peter] Beck said last week.

“We’ve got the next test flight rolling out out to the pad in about eight weeks’ time,” Beck said. “If it’s a really good clean flight, we’ll probably accelerate into commercial operations.”

Once Rocket Lab delivers the next Electron rocket to the launch pad, ground crews will spend several weeks readying the booster, rehearsing countdown procedures, and verifying all of the vehicle’s sensors and instruments are functioning.

“This vehicle, again, has on the order of 25,000 or 30,000 sensors, so for us these flights are all about gathering data, so there’s a lot of ‘go-no go’ criteria around those sensors,” Beck said. “Usually, it takes us a good couple of weeks to get all that buttoned up, and then we’ll be ready to launch.”

One of Rocket Lab’s first commercial missions is set to send a robotic lunar lander into space for Moon Express, a Florida-based aerospace developer vying to win the Google Lunar X-Prize, which requires a successful landing on the moon by the end of 2017.

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Rocket Lab Reaches Space But Not Orbit on First Flight

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Electron lifts off on maiden flight from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. (Credit: Rocket Lab)

Rocket Lab conducted the maiden flight of its new Electron small-satellite launcher on Thursday from New Zealand. The company reports the booster reached space, but it did not orbit its inert payload as planned.

It was the first of three flight tests of the launch vehicle for the New Zealand-American company from Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula. Despite failing to reach orbit, Rocket Lab officials were happy with the results.

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Rocket Lab to Open 10 Day Launch Window for Electron

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First Electron rocket at launch site. (Credit: Rocket Lab)

Rocket Lab announced that it will open a 10-day window beginning on May 22 for the maiden flight of its new Electron small-satellite launch vehicle.

“The launch, titled ‘It’s a Test’, will take place from our private orbital launch site, Launch Complex 1, on the Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand,” CEO Peter Beck wrote in a post on the company’s website.

“‘It’s a Test’ is all about gathering data,” he added. “There are over 20,000 channels collected during the flight. We will use this information to learn and iterate.”

Electron is designed to place payloads weighing up to 150 kg  (330 lb) into a 500 km (311 mile) sun-synchronous orbit.