The New Zealand company Rocket Lab set a record by launching two light Electron rockets in 24 hours. Previously, only SpaceX launched more than one rocket per day and these were heavy Falcon 9s. Rocket Lab also distinguished itself by the fact that these were the first in history conditionally simultaneous launches in two different hemispheres – one from the New Zealand spaceport in the Eastern Hemisphere, and the other from a site in USA in Western.
Image source: Rocket Lab
With launch sites in both hemispheres, Rocket Lab is uniquely positioned to provide customers with a range of orbits from polar and sun-synchronous to orbits of any inclination. Restrictions remain only on the mass and volume of the payload that can be installed under the Elektron launch vehicle fairing. In this regard, a significant step forward will occur with the start of operation of the company’s medium rockets – Neutron. This launch vehicle is expected to enter service in mid-2025, with a gradual increase in launches from one in 2025 to five in 2027.
It is interesting to note that Rocket Lab makes relatively little money from launching payloads into space. According to the third quarter 2024 financial report, of the $105 million in revenue, $84 million came from satellite design and space systems component manufacturing, and only $21 million came from payload launches. The commissioning of the Neutron launch vehicle should correct this ratio, but this is unlikely to happen before the end of the current decade.
This year, Rocket Lab has completed 14 launches of the Electron launch vehicle and promises to make 1–4 more launches. As for the last two missions, a pair of satellites was sent into space from a site in New Zealand by the French company Kinéis, and a suborbital hypersonic version of the rocket, the Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE), designed to test hypersonic technologies and equipment, was launched from a site in Virginia. The customer remains unknown.