Rocket Lab is seeing strong demand for its launch business, hitting a record backlog of 117 missions across Electron, Neutron, and HASTE hypersonic suborbital launches. During the third quarter, Rocket Lab reported it signed eight contracts totalling more than $515 million in contracts for Neutron – before the rocket has even launched.
Rocket Lab announced new customers on Monday, detailing orders from Iceye, which ordered three launches; Muon Space, which ordered two launches; and Starcloud, which ordered one launch. These are in addition to a recent single order from Kepler Communications, and a single dedicated Neutron launch for the U.S. Space Force under the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator (SB-AMTI) program, both signed in Q3.
Rocket Lab also raised the price on Neutron to a $70 million base price per launch. The previously reported target was $50 million per launch. Neutron has a backlog of 16 missions.
“Q3 has also been the biggest quarter yet for Neutron,” CEO Peter Beck told investors on Monday. “The demand is a function of both a tightening global launch supply and our customers’ confidence that Rocket Lab is the right partner to break the world’s launch bottleneck.”
This comes after Rocket Lab recently pushed back to 2027 as it works through fixes after an issue with the first stage tank uncovered earlier this year.
Neutron is also getting support from the U.S. government, with the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) announcing a $150 million conditional loan commitment to Rocket Lab USA on Monday. The loan is geared toward increasing the flight rate of Neutron as a U.S. national security priority, to support manufacturing upgrades, and reusability infrastructure.
Beck stated that Neutron’s first 16 launches are booked and the next available slots aren’t until the 2030s. As part of this plan, Rocket Lab is also holding capacity for its own future space services missions.
“Launch is extremely constrained and that is exactly the situation we predicted,” Beck said. “We saw our pent-up launch market on the horizon. And rather than provide early discounted launches, we set out to deliver a rocket into an environment with extreme demand at full price or higher. Our full manifest before Flight 1 shows you exactly how that’s played out.”
Q3 Results
Rocket Lab gave the update on Neutron demand in its third quarter results on Monday evening, when it reported record quarterly revenue of $268 million, a 73% increase year-on-year.
The company reported a net loss of $79.7 million during the quarter, wider compared to a net loss of $18 million in the same time last year.
Space Systems continues to lead the company’s revenue breakdown at $214.8 million during the quarter — representing 80% of company revenue. Space System revenue was up 88% year-over-year.
Launch delivered $53.1 million in revenue during the quarter, increasing by 30% year-over-year.
The company ended the quarter with approximately $3.6 billion in total backlog, up 52% sequentially from the end of the second quarter. The launch backlog accounts for approximately 52% and Space Systems represents 48%.
