Rocket Lab closed out 2025 as the most accomplished year in its history, establishing new records in launch cadence, expanding into key global markets, and positioning itself as a cornerstone provider of launch and spacecraft services for both commercial and government customers.
Electron Rockets Set New Annual Record
Rocket Lab’s backbone small-satellite launch vehicle, Electron, continued to dominate the small launch market in 2025. Over the course of the year, the company launched Electron 21 times, setting a new annual mission record and achieving 100 % mission success across all flights – a remarkable demonstration of reliability and operational maturity. By number of launches, Rocket Lab’s 21 launches places it as the third largest provider in the world, behind only China’s CASC (69 launches) and SpaceX (43 client launches, the remaining 127 launches being for their own use).
These missions were flown from Rocket Lab’s existing launch facilities across three pads:
- Launch Complex 1A and 1B on the Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand
- Launch Complex 2 at Wallops Island, Virginia in the United States
Collectively, the Electron fleet continued to deploy a broad range of commercial, scientific, and defense payloads, underlining Rocket Lab’s role as a dependable workhorse in the burgeoning small satellite ecosystem.
Expanding Launch Footprint: New Locations and Operations
2025 marked not just record cadence but also global expansion. With the two launch pads in New Zealand and now two in NASA’s Wallops Island facility in Virginia, Rocket Lab has established a geographically diversified launch capability, enabling responsive scheduling and increased access to orbit across hemispheres. This geographic spread also supports enhanced services for U.S. government customers (who may not be able or willing to launch from international locations) and international partners, reducing launch congestion and expanding Rocket Lab’s attractiveness to national and commercial clients alike.
Neutron Progress: A Medium-Lift Challenger Emerging
One of the biggest stories of 2025 was the rapid advancement of Neutron, Rocket Lab’s next-generation medium-lift reusable rocket. Designed to deploy payloads up to 13 t to low Earth orbit, Neutron bridges the gap between small launcher Electron and larger vehicles traditionally offered by incumbents.
Rocket Lab continued building critical infrastructure for Neutron in 2025, including contracts for modifications to its sea-based landing platform, known as Return On Investment, which will support future ocean touchdown operations once Neutron begins flying. 2025 also saw the first full-duration hot fires of Neutron’s Archimedes engine and the completion of construction for Neutron’s launch pad, Launch Complex 3, though the first flight slipped from the end of 2025 to early 2026.
Spacecraft and Deep Space Mission Contributions: ESCAPADE
In November 2025, Rocket Lab technology left Earth’s orbit for the Red Planet. The ESCAPADE mission (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) launched aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on November 13. While Blue Origin provided the ride, Rocket Lab designed and built the twin spacecraft, nicknamed “Blue” and “Gold.” Based on the company’s Photon satellite bus, these probes will study the Martian magnetosphere. This mission proves that Rocket Lab’s avionics, power systems, and reaction wheels can survive the harsh radiation and extreme distances of deep space, opening the door for future interplanetary contracts.
Major Government Contracts
2025 also saw Rocket Lab strengthen its role in U.S. national security space. The company achieved several key defense-related milestones:
- National Security Space Launch (NSSL) on-ramp – a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract worth up to $5.6 billion, under which Rocket Lab’s Neutron can compete to launch critical national security missions.
- Space Development Agency (SDA) satellite constellation: Rocket Lab will design and build 18 satellites for the Tranche 3 Tracking Layer of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). These aren’t simple CubeSats; they are sophisticated missile-tracking platforms equipped with advanced infrared sensors to detect hypersonic threats. This is Rocket Lab’s highest-value single contract, for $816 M, and firmly establishes Rocket Lab as not only a launch provider, but also as a company that can design, build, and operate their own payloads, a transition already signaled with the ESCAPADE mission.
Alongside Electron and Neutron developments, Rocket Lab leveraged its HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) vehicle platform to support U.S. Department of Defense hypersonic technology testing.
Looking Ahead to 2026 and Beyond
With 2025 behind them, Rocket Lab enters 2026 poised for further expansion:
- Neutron’s debut flight and potential initial missions under NSSL contracts
- Continued Electron launch cadence, including booked multi-launch deals that support constellation deployments and international civil missions
- Expansion of spacecraft production and systems integration services
- Further integration into national security and defense launch and mission support portfolios
As the company builds toward regular medium-lift operations and broader spacecraft services, 2025 will stand out as the year Rocket Lab firmly transitioned from a prolific small launcher to a major multi-mission launch and space systems provider.
What a year!
— Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) December 30, 2025
✅ A record launch year for Electron and HASTE with 21 launches and 100% mission success.
✅Opened Launch Complex 3.
✅Qualified Neutron's Hungry Hippo Fairing and second stage for flight.
✅ ESCAPADE is on the way to Mars.
✅Welcomed Geost to the Rocket Lab… pic.twitter.com/6f08TDnSYD
