WASHINGTON \u2014 Rocket Lab has delayed the first launch of its reusable Neutron rocket to 2026, saying it wants to maximize the chances that the flight will be a success.<\/p>\n
The company disclosed in its third-quarter financial results Nov. 10 that it now expects the first Neutron to be on the pad at Launch Complex 3 in Virginia in the first quarter of 2026, \u201cwith the first launch thereafter,\u201d it stated.<\/p>\n
Rocket Lab had been working toward a first launch before the end of this year. In February, after a report by a financial firm suggested Neutron\u2019s debut could slip to as late as mid-2027, the company defended its 2025 target<\/a>. By August, Chief Executive Peter Beck said the company was working \u201cextremely hard\u201d to fly Neutron this year but would need a \u201cgreen-light schedule,\u201d<\/a> or one with no setbacks, to achieve that.<\/p>\n Beck, speaking on a Nov. 10 earnings call, did not cite any specific issues that caused the latest delay. Instead, he said the company was taking a meticulous approach to testing Neutron before its first flight.<\/p>\n \u201cWith all of the hardware in front of us now and significant testing programs underway across all parts of the vehicle, we can say we need a little bit more time to retire the risks,\u201d he said. That approach, he added, reflects the \u201cRocket Lab process,\u201d in which \u201cour hardware is always looking beautiful and, more importantly, always working beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n That involves extensive ground testing of integrated systems down to individual subcomponents, he explained, from the Archimedes engines that will power Neutron to the vehicle\u2019s distinctive \u201chungry hippo\u201d payload fairing, which remains attached for reuse.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen what happens when others rush to the pad with an unproven product, and we just refuse to do that,\u201d Beck said. He reiterated that the company\u2019s goal is to reach orbit on the first Neutron launch. \u201cYou won\u2019t see us minimizing some qualifier about just clearing the pad and claiming success.\u201d<\/p>\n While Rocket Lab is now projecting Neutron will be on the pad in the first quarter of 2026, Beck said he could not be more specific about when it will actually launch. \u201cIt really depends on what you find\u201d during testing, he said, including a hot-fire test of the first-stage engines. If those tests uncover no major issues, \u201cthen it\u2019s a fairly straightforward path.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m suspicious if everything just flies through,\u201d he added. \u201cGenerally, you expect to see something.\u201d<\/p>\n Beck said the latest schedule shift will have \u201cinsignificant\u201d long-term financial impacts. However, the cost of developing Neutron has grown from earlier estimates of $250 million to $300 million. Adam Spice, Rocket Lab\u2019s chief financial officer, said the company will have spent $360 million on Neutron development through the end of 2025, including about $15 million per quarter for workforce costs.<\/p>\n Overall spending on Neutron will \u201chopefully\u201d peak in the fourth quarter of this year, Spice said. \u201cIt all depends on the timing of that first launch.\u201d<\/p>\n Billion-dollar war chest<\/p>\n Despite the delay, Rocket Lab shares rose more than 8% in after-hours trading Nov. 10. Investors appeared to respond to strong quarterly results, including record revenue of $155 million for the third quarter. The company projects $592.1 million to $602.1 million in revenue for the full year.<\/p>\n Rocket Lab shares have surged more than 150% in the last six months. The company took advantage of the rise with an \u201cat-the-market\u201d sale of shares in the third quarter, raising $468.8 million. It now holds a little more than $1 billion in cash and equivalents.<\/p>\n Part of those funds will be used to complete Rocket Lab\u2019s planned acquisition of Mynaric<\/a>, a German optical communications terminal manufacturer, announced in March. The deal has not yet closed amid questions over whether the German government will approve the sale to a U.S. company<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the call, Beck expressed confidence the Mynaric acquisition will move forward. Mynaric completed a financial restructuring in August, \u201cwhich was a pivotal moment in the acquisition process,\u201d he said. \u201cRocket Lab has been a force multiplier for the U.S. space industry, and we\u2019re ready to bring that same energy to the European space sector with our first foothold and expansion into Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n Beck said the company also has an active pipeline of potential acquisitions that could be financed with its new capital. He declined to name specific targets but said they range from \u201ctuck-ins,\u201d or companies offering specialized capabilities, to larger, more strategic deals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re always looking for big, needle-moving stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cWe always look for things that we think have a step change in the scale or other elements of the company.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Rocket Lab has delayed the first launch of its reusable Neutron rocket to 2026, saying it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,73078,80447,21511,141,3443,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-127718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-mynaric","11":"tag-neutron","12":"tag-rocket-lab","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-sn","15":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}