A California-based company is setting its sights on outer space—and using 3-D printers and battery power to get there.
Rocket Lab is upfront about their lofty goals: “Our mission is to remove barriers to commercial space,” the website boldly states.
In May, Rocket Lab launched a test rocket into space from a New Zealand launch pad. The Electron rocket left Earth’s atmosphere. But it didn’t reach its intended orbit.
Still, engineers are positive. They say the early stages of the mission went according to plan. “It was a fantastic flight, and we are really, really happy with the performance of the vehicle,” says company founder and avid New Zealander, Peter Beck.
In the weeks after the launch, Beck’s team members worked through terabytes (a terabyte is approximately one trillion bytes) of data. They wanted to know why the rocket didn’t reach orbit.
Rocket Lab sees a potentially lucrative emerging market in delivering lots of small satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO). The satellites could be used for everything from monitoring crops to providing internet service.
New Zealand has never had a space program. The government is pushing through new space laws. There is now even a 10-person space agency.
Officials in New Zealand hope regular launches could change opinions about the South Pacific nation—and generate hundreds of millions of dollars each year in revenue.
“So far, it’s only superpowers that have gone into space,” says Simon Bridges. He is New Zealand’s economic development minister. “For us to do it, and be in the first couple of handfuls of countries in the world, is pretty impressive.”
Rocket Lab follows a different plan from Elon Musk’s SpaceX (see “The Golden Age of Space Travel,” March/April issue). SpaceX uses larger, heavier rockets that carry more cargo.
Each Electron launch costs just $5 million. That’s only a fraction of a typical rocket launch. Rocket Lab keeps costs low by using lightweight, carbon-fiber rockets with 3-D-printed engines. Engineers print an entire rocket engine in just 24 hours.
Electron also carries a small payload—only about 331 pounds. Rocket Lab hopes research and information companies will begin using their rockets. Eventually Rocket Lab wants to launch about a rocket a week.
If Rocket Lab succeeds in reaching LEO—the possibilities—and the profits—could be sky-high.
