Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab launch streak goes up in smoke with 41st mission

Electron rocket was lost when reusable first stage separated early this morning

Science19 Sep 2023 | 10

Rocket Lab wants to dry off and reuse Electron booster recovered from the ocean

Appears to have given up the idea of catching the component midair with a helicopter

Science19 Jul 2023 | 16

Space: The final frontier, or the next venture capital gold rush

Book review Ashlee Vance's When the Heavens Went on Sale paints an inside view of orbital startups

Science01 May 2023 | 3

Watch Rocket Lab lift off from US for first time, put radio-sniffing sats into orbit

Video Nice of someone to give SpaceX a little competition

Science26 Jan 2023 | 5

Catching a falling rocket with a helicopter more complex than it sounds, says Rocket Lab

And it should know – having just failed to catch one

Science07 Nov 2022 | 54

Rocket Lab CEO reflects on company's humble beginnings as a drainpipe

PowerPoint presentations are all well and good, but for Peter Beck, you can't beat something physical

Science22 Aug 2022 | 19

Rocket Lab to search for signs of life in the clouds of Venus

As promised, Peter Beck is sending a Photon next year. Because he can

Science17 Aug 2022 | 15

CAPSTONE mission is Moon-bound, after less rocketry than expected

Final update China rubbishes NASA suggestion it wants Luna all to itself

Science05 Jul 2022 | 31

Rocket Lab is taking NASA's CAPSTONE to the Moon

Mission to lunar orbit is further than any Photon satellite bus has gone before

Science17 May 2022 | 8

Rocket Lab successfully catches falling rocket booster with a helicopter

Mission not quite accomplished after some weird wobbles

Offbeat03 May 2022 | 38

Rocket Lab to attempt mid-air recovery of descending booster

Doing anything Friday night? Fancy watching someone try to catch a rocket with a helicopter?

Science28 Apr 2022 | 29

One white cat and a volcano short of a Bond villain: Rocket Lab's Peter Beck shows off the 'Hungry Hippo'

Neutron updated, but the Spectre of SpaceX looms

Bootnotes03 Dec 2021 | 26

Everything but the catch: '90s pop act or a successful mission for Rocket Lab?

2022's plan: Playing with boosters and helicopters

Science18 Nov 2021 | 17

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it an Electron rocket descending to the ocean?

Interview Everything but catching the thing: Rocket Lab prepares for recovery

Science12 Nov 2021 | 12

Everyone's going to Mars: Rocket Lab joins the Red Planet Fan Club

An interplanetary ESCAPADE via Photon spacecraft and a NASA commercial rocket

Science23 Aug 2021 | 6

Boeing and Rocket Lab hope for the best as both return to launchpad following failures

Space is hard

Science28 Jul 2021 | 5

Space is hard: Rocket Lab's 20th Electron launch fails

Firm working with FAA to 'investigate the anomaly' after second stage sputters

Science17 May 2021 | 19

El Reg checks in with Rocket Lab's Peter Beck to see how that hat tastes amid reusable rockets and swelling payloads

Interview 'Everything in this industry always goes to schedule and to plan,' he says

Science26 Apr 2021 | 14

Rocket Lab goes large with Neutron – a big rocket for big constellations. Oh, and it confirms a merger proposal

Something for rocket fans and rocket financiers to chew on

Science01 Mar 2021 | 15

SpaceX blows away cobwebs at dormant California pad with satellite launch as a Falcon 9 makes touchdown number 7

In Brief Also: New Zealand owl watching with Rocket Lab and ExoMars 'chute test

Science27 Nov 2020 | 23

We see what you did there: First-stage booster from Rocket Lab's Return to Sender mission floats back to Earth

Electron celebrates a parachute party and is successfully recovered

Science20 Nov 2020 | 23

Rocket Lab to equip 'Return to Sender' with parachutes amid plans to catch an Electron booster with a helicopter

Successful recovery would make it the first and only reusable orbital-class small launch system

Science05 Nov 2020 | 7

How's this for the ultimate gaming achievement? Half-Life 2's Gnome Chompski is going to space – in real life

Drag racing in orbit with Rocket Lab

Science03 Nov 2020 | 3

Not the Southern Rail of the stars: Rocket Lab plans frequent, regular trips to Venus from 2023

Peter Beck and 300 seconds of really rather interesting data

Science28 Sep 2020 | 24

SpaceX scuppered by weather once more as skygazers win a Starlink reprieve

In Brief Also: Rocket Lab rehearses for a US debut while Firefly fires up an Alpha

Science22 Sep 2020 | 1

Rocket Lab deploys Photon, er, in-house built satellite on Flight 14

In brief Also: More Starlink and hopping fun for SpaceX and Northrop Grumman lights the blue touchpaper for SLS

Science07 Sep 2020 | 15

Rocket Lab boss Peter Beck talks to The Reg about crap weather, reusing boosters, and taking a trip to Venus

Interview 'It's so under-appreciated as a planet compared to Mars'

Science02 Sep 2020 | 43

Just like many of us during lockdown, Arianespace has bulked up payload capacity on its heavy lifter by 85kg

In brief Also: NASA and SpaceX name the date for Crew-1, Orion assembly almost done, and more

Science17 Aug 2020 |

Rocket Lab to bounce back from July's orbital fail with bulging payloads and parachuting Electrons

In brief Also: Scottish rocketeers to launch from Iceland, and SpaceX lobs more Starlinks

Science11 Aug 2020 | 8

A bad day in New Zealand: Rocket Lab's 13th mission ends in failure

'Pics or It Didn't Happen' won't be sending back any pics any time soon

Science06 Jul 2020 | 12

US starts sniffing around UK spaceports – though none capable of vertical launches actually exist right now

In brief Plus: SLS boosters arrive at Kennedy, Rocket Lab to go back-to-back with NRO

Science23 Jun 2020 | 38

58 Starlinks scattered across sky, Rocket Lab aims for back-to-back launches, and Skyrora hops 6km above Shetland

Roundup Plus: SpaceX tests a Starship tank to destruction

Science16 Jun 2020 | 7

Northrop Grumman to polish NASA's HALO, techies test tardy telescope tower, SLS boosters ready for Florida

Roundup And other tidbits from the realm of rocketry

Science10 Jun 2020 | 4

Beware, space Chuck Norris inside: Wacky flight rules for Chris Cassidy's first mission unearthed as Navy SEAL greets Dragon crew

Roundup Also: Rocket Lab reschedules, ESA probe eats comet exhaust, China shares space station plans

Science01 Jun 2020 | 9

Virgin Galactic takes another step towards blasting Richard Branson into space

Roundup Also: Arianespace gets ready for a return to action while Rocket Lab shows off its US launchpad

Science06 May 2020 | 28

Choose your own thrill ride: A Florida slidewire or catching a rocket by helicopter

Roundup Starlink slips, Soyuz arrives and StriX-α sat heads to New Zealand

Science15 Apr 2020 | 5

Yanking on the space supply chain: Rocket Lab goes Interplanetary with Sinclair acquisition

Sadly, no room for a ZX Spectrum on the way to the Moon

Science16 Mar 2020 | 15

Rocket Lab wants to break free, hopes next mission is more 'A Kind Of Magic' than 'Another One Bites The Dust'

Roundup Plus: Last hurrah for v1 Dragon and Boeing is in trouble

Science10 Mar 2020 | 27

SpaceX's next Starlink volley remains stuck on Earth to glee of astronomers everywhere

Roundup Plus: Did NASA just accidentally give the game away?

Science17 Feb 2020 | 19

US's secret spy payload offloaded: Rocket Lab demos missile muscle with second Electron guided home

Astronomers wring hands as more small sats sent aloft

Science31 Jan 2020 | 20

SpaceX ponders its next mission to blot out the Sun with another 60 Starlink sats

Roundup Also: ISS batteries changed, Virgin's fleet grows, Rocket Lab makes nod to crap sitcom, and more

Science21 Jan 2020 | 6

Rocket Lab ends year by cutting ribbon on first launchpad in the US

Launch opportunities per year now over 130. Actually launched in 2019: 6

Science13 Dec 2019 | 3

Brewing in spaaaaace: SpaceX sends a malting kit to the International Space Station

Round Up Plus: Commercial crew news and NASA publishes what ISRO won't

Science09 Dec 2019 | 46

Bad news: A company wants to sell artificial shooting stars. Good news: Launch delayed

Roundup There's more than enough crap up there already

Science02 Dec 2019 | 17

Anomaly-free SpaceX fires up SuperDracos, ISS astros go iFixit in orbit, and Buran turns 31

Roundup Plus: That time the first American in space gave 'nauts an on-air telling off

Science18 Nov 2019 | 9

Oh chute. Two out of three ain't bad, right? asks Boeing after soft-ish crew module landing

Roundup Plus: SpaceX to end Florida Falcon drought and more from the realm of rockets

Science06 Nov 2019 | 47

Rocket Lab plans to send small satellites to the Moon with Photon

Only really, really little astronauts need apply

Science21 Oct 2019 | 12

Imagine finding this bad boy in your shower: Brit startup pulls the sheets off Moon spider mech

Roundup Four-legged robot will scuttle a grand total of 10m

Science15 Oct 2019 | 45

Squabbles over NASA's lunar lander, Astrobotics takes a punt on ULA and India arrives at the Moon

Round Up Also: Rocket Lab launches eighth Electron, good and bad news for China

Science20 Aug 2019 | 15

Rocket Lab CEO tucks into hat as company shares plans to reuse Electron first stage

Interview The Register talks to Peter Beck about parachutes, elephants and helicopters

Science07 Aug 2019 | 11

Nah, yeah: New Zealand's Rocket Lab notches up another launch success

Launching every two weeks? Sure, so long as your satellites keep off the lard

Science01 Jul 2019 | 7

Pull! Rocket Lab fires off another potential target as India joins exclusive satellite shooting club

Roundup China's OneSpace smiles through explosion and 'nauts change out ISS batteries

Science01 Apr 2019 | 15

Kiwis prep 'permissive' space laws to help Rocket Lab get off the ground

Rocket Lab scores launch pad on North Island

Science17 Jun 2016 | 9

Kiwi Rocket Lab to build SUPER-CHEAP sat launchers (anyone know 30 rocket scientists?)

Promises 100 launches a year for payloads up to 110kg

Science29 Jul 2014 | 32

Kiwis demo DARPA-funded rocket project

Video Launch tests high-density propellant

Science19 Nov 2012 | 13