Rocket Lab Adds New HASTE Launch from Virginia for the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit
08 November 2023 - 10:15PM
Business Wire
This latest dedicated HASTE contract is the
seventh mission to be added this year to Rocket Lab’s suborbital
launch manifest
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the
Company”), a global leader in launch services and space systems,
today announced it has signed a launch services agreement with the
US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) for a
HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) mission
from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 in Virginia.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231108422546/en/
Rocket Lab's HASTE launch vehicle. Image
Credit Austin Adams. (Photo: Business Wire)
The HASTE mission will deploy a suborbital payload by Australian
company Hypersonix called DART AE, a scramjet-powered hypersonic
vehicle capable of flying non-ballistic flight patterns at speeds
of up to Mach 7 (approx. 8,350 kilometres / 5,320 miles per hour).
The mission will launch from Rocket Lab’s dedicated launch site at
the Virginia Spaceport Authority’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
on Wallops Island as early as Q1, 2025. The HyCat mission will
demonstrate HASTE’s ‘direct inject’ capability by deploying the
Hypersonix payload during ascent, while still within Earth’s
atmosphere.
This latest HASTE mission is the seventh suborbital launch
contract awarded to Rocket Lab this year, including Rocket Lab’s
first HASTE mission launched on 17 June 2023 for Leidos under the
Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB)
program. Leidos has since signed on for four more HASTE missions to
launch in 2024 and 2025. Another HASTE launch contract was also
announced in August 2023 for a confidential customer.
The mission will be operated by Rocket Lab National Security
(RLNS), the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary created to serve the
unique needs of the U.S. defense and intelligence community and its
allies. RLNS, along with Hypersonix, was earlier this year selected
by the DIU as a program partner to the DIU’s hypersonic and
high-cadence testing (HyCat) project, a program to accelerate
potential hypersonic technologies and concepts.
Rocket Lab’s HASTE suborbital launch vehicle is derived from the
Company’s Electron rocket but has been modified to support
hypersonic payload deployment. By leveraging the heritage of Rocket
Lab’s low-cost Electron – the world’s most frequently launched
commercial small launch vehicle – HASTE offers true commercial
testing capability at a fraction of the cost of current full-scale
tests.
+ About Rocket Lab
Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with
an established track record of mission success. We deliver reliable
launch services, satellite manufacture, spacecraft components, and
on-orbit management solutions that make it faster, easier and more
affordable to access space. Headquartered in Long Beach,
California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small
orbital launch vehicle, the Photon satellite platform and the
Company is developing the large Neutron launch vehicle for
constellation deployment. Since its first orbital launch in January
2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second
most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered 171
satellites to orbit for private and public sector organizations,
enabling operations in national security, scientific research,
space debris mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring, and
communications. Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft platform has been
selected to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as
the first private commercial mission to Venus. Rocket Lab has three
launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch pads at a
private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a third
launch pad in Virginia. To learn more, visit
www.rocketlabusa.com.
+ FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by
the safe harbor provisions for forward looking statements contained
in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
“Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements contained in
this press release other than statements of historical fact,
including, without limitation, statements regarding our launch and
space systems operation, launch schedule and window, safe and
repeatable access to space, Neutron development, operational
expansion and business strategy are forward-looking statements. All
statements contained in this press release other than statements of
historical fact, including, without limitation, statements
regarding our launch and space systems operation, launch schedule
and window, safe and repeatable access to space, Neutron
development, operational expansion, business strategy, and
expectations relating to our financial condition, results of
operations, plans, objectives and future performance are
forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,”
“estimate,” “potential,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,”
“expect,” “strategy,” “future,” “could,” “would,” “project,”
“plan,” “target,” and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements, though not all forward-looking
statements use these words or expressions. These statements are
neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our
actual results, performance or achievements to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including
but not limited to the factors, risks and uncertainties included in
our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December
31, 2022, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our
other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
“SEC”), accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and the
Investor Relations section of our website at www.rocketlabusa.com,
which could cause our actual results to differ materially from
those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this
press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent
management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While
we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some
point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if
subsequent events cause our views to change.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231108422546/en/
+ Rocket Lab Media Contact Murielle Baker
media@rocketlabusa.com
Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Mär 2024 bis Apr 2024
Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Apr 2023 bis Apr 2024