{"id":41011,"date":"2025-09-24T16:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T16:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/41011\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T16:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T16:55:09","slug":"rocket-lab-rklb-delivers-two-spacecraft-to-nasa-for-mars-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/41011\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab (RKLB) Delivers Two Spacecraft to Nasa for Mars Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Aerospace firm Rocket Lab <a data-ticker=\"RKLB\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/stocks\/rklb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">(RKLB)<\/a> announced that it delivered two Explorer-class spacecraft to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center for the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. The spacecraft, which was built in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley\u2019s Space Sciences Laboratory, will undergo inspections and tests before being fueled and prepared for launch. Notably, EscaPADE will use two spacecraft, named Blue and Gold, to orbit Mars and study how the planet\u2019s magnetosphere and atmosphere interact. <\/p>\n<p>Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of <a data-link=\"article_promo\" href=\"https:\/\/lp.tipranks.com\/july-2025-50off\/?llf=rss&amp;timer=on&amp;coupon=INTRO50P\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> TipRanks Premium at 50% off! <\/a> Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.<\/p>\n<p>The mission\u2019s goal is to learn more about how Mars lost most of its atmosphere, which is key to understanding its history and climate. Interestingly, Rocket Lab highlighted that finishing the design, construction, and testing of the spacecraft in only three and a half years is unusually quick for a Mars mission. Indeed, the company credited this accomplishment to its ability to build critical parts entirely in-house.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, the two spacecraft will travel together for 22 months on their way to Mars before splitting into different orbits around the planet. This will allow them to gather data from separate parts of the magnetosphere at the same time in order to give scientists a more complete picture. Notably, CEO <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/experts\/insiders\/peter-beck\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Peter Beck<\/a> described EscaPADE as a perfect example of Rocket Lab\u2019s goal to make space science faster and more affordable. He also said that the company is already planning future projects, such as a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, which could support more complex missions in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Is RKLB Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?<\/p>\n<p>Overall, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on RKLB stock based on nine Buys, four Holds, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/stocks\/rklb\/forecast\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">average RKLB price target<\/a>\u00a0of $49.27 per share implies 3.1% downside risk.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/stocks\/rklb\/forecast\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"764\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-1944-1024x764.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2439780\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/stocks\/rklb\/forecast\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">See more RKLB analyst ratings<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/glossary\/d\/disclaimer-disclosure\" style=\"margin-right: 32px;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Disclaimer &amp; Disclosure<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tipranks.com\/glossary\/c\/contact-editor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Report an Issue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aerospace firm Rocket Lab (RKLB) announced that it delivered two Explorer-class spacecraft to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-41011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}