After record-breaking 2025, Rocket Lab prepares for Neutron’s debut in 2026

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Rocket Lab had its most successful year to date in 2025, with its Electron rocket completing 21 successful flights and the company racking up several new industry contracts. One such contract is with the Space Development Agency, valued at up to $816 million, for Rocket Lab to develop 18 missile-warning satellites — the company’s largest contract award to date.

While Electron will continue to fly missions in 2026, Rocket Lab also plans to debut its next-generation vehicle, Neutron, no earlier than mid-2026. This medium-lift rocket will launch from a new launch site on Wallops Island, where an existing Electron launch site is already established. Rocket Lab is also competing for future NASA Mars missions, including the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO).

Electron’s 2025 and Neutron development

Electron was among the most flown rockets in 2025, launching 21 times from three different launch sites: Launch Complex 1A (LC-1A) and Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B) at the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand, and Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at Wallops in Virginia. Notably, Electron experienced no failures during any of its 21 missions in 2025.

The small satellite launcher flew its first mission of 2025 on Feb. 8 and its last on Dec. 21. Since its debut in 2017, Electron has flown 79 total missions and experienced four failures. Several of Electron’s 21 missions in 2025 were suborbital, flying in its Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) configuration.

Neutron is designed to be larger and more powerful than Electron, standing 43 m tall and seven meters wide. Utilizing liquid methane (CH4) and liquid oxygen as propellants, Neutron will feature partial reusability, with its first stage intended to land on Rocket Lab’s droneship, Return on Investment. The first stage will be equipped with nine Archimedes engines, with a single vacuum-optimized Archimedes on the second stage.

To reuse more of Neutron with each flight, the company developed the “Hungry Hippo” fairing, which encloses the second stage within the first. This innovative five-meter fairing opens before the second stage is deployed and closes shortly after, allowing both the fairing and the first stage to be recovered simultaneously.

Render of a parital reusable Neutron releasing a second stage. (Credit: Rocket Lab)

With the introduction of Neutron, originally scheduled for December but now mid-2026, the company aims to launch more mass to orbit and a more diverse set of payloads. Electron can deliver 300 kg to low Earth orbit (LEO). In contrast, Neutron is projected to carry 13,000 kg to LEO (15,000 kg in an expendable configuration) and up to 1,500 kg to Mars or Venus. Rocket Lab specifically designed Neutron to facilitate the deployment of mega-constellations and to support deep-space missions.

Neutron has been in development since early 2021 and passed many critical testing and certification milestones in 2025. In April, Neutron’s carbon-composite second-stage design was qualified during a test in which 1.3 million pounds of tensile force were applied to its structure. Furthermore, the company tested the performance of flight software, avionics, and guidance systems under cryogenic conditions.

In May, the top of the first stage — featuring the attached fairings and aerodynamic canards — completed its qualification testing. This interstage features some of the rocket’s most complex mechanical systems. By December, Neutron’s fairing systems had been fully qualified.

With stage certifications complete and its launch site completed, Neutron is closer than ever to launch readiness. The first flight vehicle is expected to be shipped to Wallops during the first quarter of 2026, where it will be integrated and prepared for launch.

Testing of Neutron’s second stage. (Credit: Rocket Lab)

Wallops

At the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia, Rocket Lab utilized LC-2 for several HASTE missions while finishing construction on Neutron’s launch site, Launch Complex 3 (LC-3). LC-3 officially opened in August with a 700-ton launch mount made of steel and concrete, a water tower with a capacity of approximately 757,000 liters (200,000 gallons), and a propellant tank farm.

The site is also equipped with testing facilities, including a second-stage hot-fire stand that was installed on the launch mount in December. The company adopted a vertical integration approach for Neutron, eliminating the need for breakover fixtures at LC-3.

After the first Neutron vehicle arrives at Wallops, the first and second stages will need to undergo static fire tests to ensure all vehicle components are ready for flight. Following these static fires, the two stages will be integrated and then moved to the pad for launch.

Second-stage hot fire stand on the move at Wallops (Credit:Micah Pieczarka for NSF)

Satellite development

In addition to developing small and medium-lift vehicles, Rocket Lab operates as an “end-to-end” aerospace company, producing many of its components in-house. This includes the construction and development of satellites.

Rocket Lab’s first interplanetary mission launched in November, when the twin Blue and Gold satellites of NASA’s ESCAPADE mission — which the company developed and built — launched atop Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.

It’s likely that ESCAPADE will not be the only Mars mission supported by Rocket Lab, as the company proposed a concept for NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission, which entails returning all 30 samples collected by the Perseverance rover through a three-launch manifest. The company hopes its extensive experience in manufacturing space hardware will enhance its prospects for selection.

However, with the future of the Mars Sample Return mission up in the air, Rocket Lab will likely shift its focus to its proposal for the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO). Rocket Lab unveiled its proposal for the MTO in September 2025, in response to a NASA contract to develop a communications satellite for spacecraft on the Martian surface and in orbit around Mars.

On Dec. 19, Rocket Lab announced a new contract with the Space Development Agency (SDA), a division of the U.S. Space Force, worth up to $816 million to develop 18 Tranche Tracking Layer 3 satellites. This accompanies an existing contract with the SDA to manufacture 18 satellites for the Tranche 2 Transport Layer-Beta. In total, the SDA has awarded Rocket Lab over $1.3 billion to develop satellites.

The company will utilize its Lightning satellite platform and its own sensors, which were also used for the ESCAPADE payload, for the Tranche satellites. These missile warning satellites are vital to national security, and the new constellation expands the capabilities of the existing constellations. Rocket Lab hopes to secure additional national security contracts with the debut of Neutron in 2026.

(Lead Image: Electron launches on its 20th mission of 2025 from Wallops Island. Credit: Tyler Gray for NSF)

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