Rocket Lab Just Signed A New Agreement For Neutron & Electron
Rocket Lab has been staying busy with a host of different ambitious projects, missions, and more. Just recently the company updated us and revealed that within the next few months they will be attempting another Electron booster catch. This comes in addition to a brand new update regarding Electron, Photon, and even the Neutron launch vehicle.
Just yesterday the company announced they had signed an agreement with the United States Transportation Command to consider a possible future transporting cargo around the globe. While it sounds farfetched, it looks as if both Rocket Lab and the U.S. are very serious and looking into future opportunities with launch vehicles such as Neutron.
Over the past few months, Rocket Lab has been working on the Neutron facility, expected to not only manufacture the rocket but support consistent missions. A prospect that is already getting the attention of big industries and customers such as the United States Government. Here I will go more in-depth into this new agreement, how it affects both launch vehicles and even Photon, and the current progress Rocket Lab has made.
New Agreement
Neutron is Rocket Lab’s next generation launch vehicle meant to change how the company accesses space. Since the rocket was originally announced, we have received occasional updates over time on different aspects of the rocket, manufacturing facility, and more. However, just yesterday Rocket Lab tweeted saying, “Exciting news. We’ve signed an agreement with @US_TRANSCOM to explore using Neutron and Electron to deliver cargo around the world. The agreement supports the U.S. Air Force’s rocket cargo project.” They also tweeted mentioning, “The agreement will also see us explore using Photon spacecraft to establish on-orbit cargo depots and deliver re-entry capability.”
Specifically, on September 6th, Rocket Lab announced that it had signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) to explore the possibility of using the Company’s Neutron and Electron launch vehicles to transport cargo around the world. The agreement will also see Rocket Lab explore using the Photon spacecraft in unique ways. The purpose of this agreement is to inform the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the U.S. Space Force, which lead the Rocket Cargo program. Rocket Cargo is one of the Air Force’s Vanguard programs designed to advance emerging systems and concepts through prototyping and experimentation to deliver remarkable new capabilities. The program seeks to explore the viability of space launch to deliver improvements in delivery cost and speed compared to existing air cargo operations.
It’s obvious this is a very ambitious prospect. To put it clearly, the agreement is looking at the possibility of using rockets like Neutron and Electron, to move cargo from one place in the world, and land at another. Included in the announcement, CEO of Rocket Lab, Peter Beck highlighted, “Point-to-point space transportation offers a new ability to move equipment quickly around the world in hours, enabling a faster response to global emergencies and natural disasters. Electron is already a proven and reliable launch vehicle and we’ve demonstrated its adaptability with programs like reusability and our recent CAPSTONE mission to the Moon for NASA, so we’re no stranger to exploring expanded use cases for Electron. Neutron builds on Electron’s capability with a much larger payload capacity, and it’s designed for frequent reflight, making it a perfect fit to enable fast deployment of vital resources while eliminating the en-route stops and air refueling required by air cargo solutions. Topping it off with Photon cargo depots on orbit provides a well-rounded approach to the future of rapid global deployment. We’re excited to be collaborating with USTRANSCOM on this forward-thinking, innovative research program that could ultimately shift the way the Department of Defense considers logistics response options.”
This quote not only gives some additional information but also puts the company’s thoughts on the agreement in perspective. Rocket Lab is confident some of its systems whether it be Electron, Neutron, or Photon, could provide very unique and significant help to the U.S. government.
Lastly, the CRADA’s government project lead Mr. Jamie Malak, pointed out, “Rocket Lab will help the Federal government understand commercial rocket capabilities for future logistics missions. USTRANSCOM and its global Combatant Command customers have been constrained to logistics at the speed of conventional aircraft—or often far less—for their entire history. Now we can look to transport critical military cargo an order of magnitude faster than ever before. We will explore how to integrate rocket cargo systems in Defense logistics processes and how to make space transportation a reliable and practical option for operations of the future.” This quote also highlights how serious about this prospect both parties involved are. It also leads us to look at some of Rocket Lab’s launch vehicles and what makes them viable for this project.
Rocket Lab Progress
Now that we know more about the recent agreement and what it hopes to achieve, we can take a closer look at Rocket Lab’s launch options and see what they have to offer in terms of point to point transportation. The first rocket that comes to mind for this is Neutron. Neutron is a medium-lift launch vehicle designed to serve the needs of the civil, commercial, and national security space markets. When considering rocket use for Earth point-to-point travel, there are a few main considerations that have the biggest impact on whether or not this would be viable. It mainly comes down to reusability, cost, and payload capacity. The rocket is designed to deliver reliable and cost-effective launch for payloads to low Earth orbit and beyond. With a large seven meter fairing and a payload lift capacity of 13 tonnes in a downrange landing configuration, it is quite a step up from Electron.
Rocket Lab highlights that reusability is at the forefront of Neutron’s design to enable frequent launch, and its new, specially formulated carbon composite material is lightweight, strong, and can withstand the immense heat and forces of launch and re-entry again and again to enable frequent re-flight of the first stage. Another important aspect of reusability on this launch vehicle has to do with its captive ‘Hungry Hippo’ fairing design. This innovative design will see the fairing form part of the first stage structure and remain fixed to the stage. Rather than separating from the stage and falling away to the ocean like traditional fairings, Neutron’s Hungry Hippo fairing jaws will open wide to release the second stage and payload, before closing again ready to return to Earth with the first stage. This design means Neutron is already somewhat capable of launching into space, and returning with the payload protected and the rocket fully intact. The rocket would still likely need quite a bit of adjustment for such a unique mission. Finally, you have the cost, while a lot of different factors go into this consideration, Neutron has a lot going for it due to reusability. This being said, based on some of the quotes provided earlier, it seems as if the government is willing to pay extra for a much faster delivery.
The next rocket this agreement mentions is Electron. As of right now, this is an expendable small-lift launch vehicle with a payload capacity to low Earth orbit of around 300kg. In terms of point to point transportation, this rocket seems much more ambitious and unlikely. However, Rocket Lab has been working hard to try and turn Electron into a partially reusable rocket by catching the Electron booster. Just a few days ago the company hinted that the next booster catch attempt would happen before the end of the year. Success in the booster catch department could only help Rocket Lab’s case as they reduce the cost per launch and improve launch cadence. At the same time, Electron is not built to launch, fly around the globe, and re-enter the atmosphere for another landing.
The last bit of Rocket Lab hardware mentioned in this agreement was Photon. This spacecraft has managed to prove itself over the course of various missions as an extremely capable peice of space hardware. We just watched Photon help Rocket Lab send payloads to the Moon, and now the spacecraft has upcoming missions to Venus, and Mars. The agreement wants to explore using the Photon spacecraft to establish on-orbit cargo depots and deliver re-entry capability. One of the spacecraft’s specialties is orbit raising and also de-orbiting different payloads. This means we could most definitely see Photon used in the future thanks to this agreement.
Conclusion
Rocket Lab has been continuing to make impressive progress on a host of different missions, projects, and more. Just yesterday the company announced an agreement made with the U.S. government to look at future options regarding rockets and point to point transportation of cargo. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.