New Zealand-originated RockletLab, founded by Sir Peter Beck, has secured a contract from the US Space Development Agency worth $816 million (€695.5m). This is the largest single contract RocketLab has ever received. RocketLab is quoted on the Nasdaq exchange and has its formal headquarters in Long Beach, California.

The order covers the supply of 18 highly-specialised satellites for the US Tracking Layer Tranche 3 (TRKT3) programme, which is part of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) aimed at enhancing national security.

The 18 satellites will be built on Rocket Lab’s Lightning spacecraft platform. They will feature advanced missile warning and tracking sensors to detect emerging threats, such as hypersonic systems.

Each satellite will include the Phoenix infrared sensor (a wide field-of-view solution) and StarLite space protection sensors, which are designed to defend the constellation against directed energy threats.

Rocket Lab says it will produce almost all major components in-house, including solar arrays, reaction wheels, star trackers, propulsion systems, and flight software. This end-to-end approach allows for faster production and better cost control.

The contract indicates that Rocket Lab’s vertically integrated strategy building everything from the rocket to the satellite components in-house is a competitive advantage that the US Space Force values for its speed and efficiency.

It successfully launched one of its Electron rockets on December 18th from the Wallops Island, Virginia, The launch is the 21st this year, and it enjoyed 100 per cent mission success. The record cements Electron as both America’s preeminent small launch provider and the world’s most frequently-launched small-lift orbital rocket.

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Tags: new zealand, Rocket Lab, satellite