Rocket Lab USA has signed a new launch services agreement with a confidential customer for a HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) mission from Launch Complex 2 at Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in 2024. This comes just days after Rocket Lab successfully launched the first HASTE mission on June 17, 2023, for Leidos under the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) program.
Rocket Lab’s HASTE suborbital launch vehicle is derived from the Company’s workhorse Electron rocket and offers true commercial testing capability on rapid schedules and at a fraction of the cost of current full-scale tests. It has a modified Kick Stage, a larger payload capacity of up to 700 kg / 1,540 lbs, and options for tailored fairings to accommodate larger payloads.
HASTE is operated under 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.
In addition, BlackSky Technology and Rocket Lab USA have signed an agreement for five launches that will increase capacity and introduce new capabilities into BlackSky’s rapid-revisit, high-res constellation. BlackSky’s next-generation Gen-3 satellites are designed to produce images with up to 35-centimeter resolution. The launches are expected to take place beginning in 2024 from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand.
Overall, these agreements highlight Rocket Lab’s growing presence in the launch services market and its ability to provide reliable and tailored launch capabilities for various customers and missions.
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