Rocket Lab USA, Inc. company profile

Overview

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. is a U.S.-headquartered space and aerospace company that provides launch services and space systems. Its launch business offers dedicated and rideshare launches, while its Space Systems business focuses on spacecraft components and manufacturing, spacecraft solutions, and related services.[1][2]

Electron, its small orbital launch vehicle, is a defining product; the company has also described Neutron as a medium-class vehicle in development.[3][4] Rocket Lab’s stated mission is “We open access to space to improve life on earth.” [5]

Rocket Lab reported 2025 revenue of approximately $601.8 million.[6] Its operations span the United States, New Zealand, Germany, Canada, and Australia, with launch facilities in New Zealand and access to launch pads in Virginia.[1][7] [1]

Products & services

Rocket Lab’s launch products include **Electron**, a two-stage small orbital launch vehicle with a restartable third-stage kick stage for precise, multi-orbit payload deployment. The 18-metre vehicle can carry payloads up to 300 kg to low Earth orbit, with launch-site-dependent inclination ranges of 38°–120° from New Zealand and 38°–60° from Virginia; it has also supported deep-space missions. By June 30, 2026, Rocket Lab reported 87 successful Electron missions and more than 250 spacecraft delivered.[8][9] **HASTE** is a suborbital Electron variant for hypersonic and other technology testing. Its service can provide tailored trajectories and payload-release conditions, with a stated payload capacity of up to 700 kg and deployment speeds above 7.5 km/s.[10][11]

**Neutron** is a medium-capacity launcher under development, planned for reusable operation with approximately 13,000 kg of payload capacity to low Earth orbit in reusable configuration. Its intended applications include commercial and government satellite constellations and larger civil, defense and commercial payloads.[12] Rocket Lab also offers spacecraft platforms for missions from low Earth orbit to deep space. **Photon** can operate as Electron’s kick stage and then as a spacecraft, or fly on another launch vehicle; the company’s named spacecraft family also includes **Pioneer, Lightning and Explorer**. Company materials describe Photon as an integrated 200–300 kg platform, Lightning as designed for more than 12 years in low Earth orbit, and Explorer as a high-delta-V deep-space spacecraft bus.[13][14]

Space Systems products include spacecraft components and subsystems such as reaction wheels, star trackers, radios, separation systems, solar solutions, high-voltage space-grade batteries and optical systems. Related services include spacecraft design and manufacturing, ground services and on-orbit operations.[15][16]

Rocket Lab does not report revenue separately for individual products such as Electron, HASTE or Photon. For FY2025, Launch Services generated $199.042 million, or about 33.1% of total revenue, and Space Systems generated $402.757 million, or about 66.9%; the company separately reported Space Systems product revenue of $371.617 million and Space Systems services revenue of $31.140 million.[17][18] In the first half of 2026, Launch Services contributed $108.249 million (about 24.9% of revenue) and Space Systems $326.165 million (about 75.1%).[19][20] [8]

Geographic presence

Rocket Lab is headquartered in Long Beach, California, and has wholly owned operating subsidiaries in the United States, New Zealand, Germany, Canada, and Australia. Its facilities and operations include rocket and avionics manufacturing in Long Beach; composite manufacturing, battery systems, launch-vehicle integration, and propulsion testing in Auckland and Kopuku, New Zealand; solar-cell production in Albuquerque, New Mexico; optical systems in Tucson, Arizona; and engine testing at Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. The company also lists a production and development complex in Middle River, Maryland.[1]

Its launch complexes are at Mahia, New Zealand, and Wallops Island, Virginia. Mahia’s two pads can support up to 120 launches annually; Wallops has an operational launch complex, with another complex described in the 2025 filing as expected to enter service in 2026.[7] At December 31, 2025, long-lived assets were concentrated in the United States (94%), with 5% in New Zealand and 1% in Canada.[25] The filing reports that about 15% of 2025 expenditures were denominated in foreign currencies, primarily New Zealand dollars; it does not provide a customer-revenue split by country or region.[26] [1]

Business segments

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. reports two operating and reportable segments: Launch Services and Space Systems. Launch Services covers launch and launch-related services on dedicated and rideshare missions. Space Systems consists predominantly of spacecraft components and spacecraft manufacturing. For contracts involving both segments, revenue is generally allocated between them based on relative costs incurred.[2][27]

In FY2025, Launch Services generated approximately $199.0 million, or 33.1% of segment revenue, while Space Systems generated approximately $402.8 million, or 66.9%.[17] For the six months ended June 30, 2026, the respective revenues were $108.2 million and $326.2 million, representing approximately 24.9% and 75.1% of total segment revenue.[19] The company attributed the period’s Space Systems revenue growth primarily to spacecraft manufacturing and acquisitions, and Launch Services growth primarily to a higher Electron launch cadence and higher revenue per launch.[20] [2]

Company history

Founded in New Zealand in 2006 by Peter Beck, Rocket Lab began developing its Electron launch vehicle as a commercial orbital rocket. Electron’s first test flight reached space in 2017, and its first successful orbital flight followed in 2018. In 2019, the company opened Launch Complex 2 in Virginia, its first U.S. launch site.[28]

Rocket Lab expanded beyond launch services in 2020, acquiring satellite-hardware manufacturer Sinclair Interplanetary and launching its first in-house-built Photon spacecraft. In 2021, it became a public company through a merger with Vector Acquisition Corporation, announced its Neutron rocket program, and acquired spacecraft-software firm Advanced Solutions and separation-systems maker Planetary Systems Corporation. The 2022 acquisition of SolAero added space solar-cell capabilities; that year, Electron launched NASA’s CAPSTONE mission, with Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon supporting the spacecraft’s journey toward the Moon.[32]

In 2023, the company introduced HASTE, a suborbital test vehicle, and acquired selected Virgin Orbit facilities and production assets to support Neutron development. Electron completed its 50th mission in 2024. In 2025, Rocket Lab acquired national-security payload company Geost and reported its 100th successful mission. In 2026, it completed the acquisition of Mynaric, adding laser-optical communications technology to its portfolio.[40]

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Rocket Lab USA, Inc.