Rocket Lab has ‘misrepresented’ Neutron launch readiness, congressional memo says

An inside congressional memo considered by Information World casts sturdy doubt on Rocket Lab’s declare that its Neutron rocket will likely be prepared for launch in time to satisfy an important contract deadline from the Area Power.

“In mild of public reporting and media stress, Rocket Lab has escalated their marketing campaign to misrepresent their launch readiness in an effort to realize aggressive benefit over incumbents and different new entrants by on-boarding into NSSL Part 3 Lane 1 on the first alternative in 2024,” the memo, considered by Information World, says. “Public information and knowledge accessible to employees verify that Neutron has no credible path to launch by 12/15/2024.”

Rocket Lab declined to remark for this story.

Such memos are used to tell congressional officers on specific points and make suggestions on proposed actions. This memo, which was written by congressional staffers and circulated on Wednesday to different places of work, together with these within the Senate Armed Companies Committee, states that Rocket Lab has “repeatedly assured” these staffers that the corporate has a reputable path to launch by December 15.

That’s the date by which the Area Power’s Area Techniques Command stated launch suppliers should be able to fly so as to qualify for launch contracts below a program known as Nationwide Area Safety Launch (NSSL) Part 3. These contracts will reportedly be price a number of billions of {dollars} to cowl launches from 2025 by means of 2034.

In response to trade suggestions, Area Techniques Command modified its procurement technique for the following batch of nationwide safety launch contracts to accommodate newer launch suppliers. Underneath the brand new technique, the contracts are break up into two teams: Lane 1 is for newer rockets, whereas Lane 2 is for established suppliers that may fulfill the total vary of mission necessities.

Whereas Rocket Lab has by no means publicly confirmed that it has bid below Lane 1, in an earnings name on Tuesday, CEO Peter Beck advised the corporate was pushing arduous to finish Neutron growth by the top of this 12 months so as to meet that deadline: “We’re monitoring that Lane 1 fairly intently and we spent quite a lot of time with the Area Power to advocate for that Lane 1,” he stated. “Therefore the rationale why we’re pushing so arduous to get the automobile in a launch for this 12 months, as a result of it’s a gating on-ramp to Lane 1.”

As Beck went on to notice, suppliers who don’t meet this 12 months’s readiness date may have one other alternative to bid on contracts the next 12 months.

Neutron is Rocket Lab’s medium-lift automobile and is being added as a complement to its profitable small Electron rocket. Neutron will likely be powered by a brand new engine known as Archimedes, and the corporate is aiming to begin sizzling hearth exams of that engine round March; Beck stated the corporate will know extra about how near the timeline they’re “as soon as Archimedes breathes hearth” throughout testing.

Uncertainties round Archimedes’ sizzling hearth exams are “the largest concern” in Rocket Lab’s claims, the memo argues.

Past the precise rocket testing, a lot of the timeline relies on completions to the launch pad and different infrastructure at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, which is being constructed by a state company, Virginia Business Area Flight Authority. The most recent RFP issued by that company for the launch infrastructure has an anticipated completion date of November 29, 2024 — which leaves a scant two weeks till the launch deadline. It’s unclear whether or not any further RFPs are forthcoming or when the RFP schedule was finalized. VCSFA didn’t reply to Information World’s request for remark by publication time.

On the corporate’s earnings name, analysts additionally requested Beck concerning the RFP, and he pointed to Rocket Lab’s observe file of growing launch pads in brief timelines. However the congressional memo argues that the Neutron pad has considerably totally different “scale, propellant kind, and structure” in comparison with the corporate’s current pads. It additionally highlights proprietary timelines shared by different launch suppliers that counsel there’s a lot work left to be included in RFPs by the VCSFA.

The memo features a slide from 2023 ready by Area Techniques Command that means the company will start supply choice within the second quarter of the fiscal 12 months and announce the Lane 1 awards in the midst of the third quarter, which runs from April to June.