Programs

Ātea Sounding Rockets

Rocket Lab's primary project is to develop and launch the Ātea series of sounding rockets, platforms dedicated to enabling pioneering scientific research and opening up new commercial applications. The company is currently working on two vehicles, the smaller capacity Ātea-1, capable of carrying 2kg into space, and the much larger Ātea-2 vehicle capable of carrying 70kg. Click on the links below to view further information on each vehicle:

• Ātea-1

• Ātea-2

For payload opportunities please contact us.

Other Current Projects

Aussie Invader Land Speed Record

Rocket Lab has been contracted by Rosco McGlashan and The Bullet Project team to develop four 15,000 lbf thrust liquid bi-propellant engines to power the Aussie Invader 5R Land Speed Record Vehicle. The vehicle is currently being designed and manufactured in Australia, to attempt to break the World Land Speed Record, and travelling at 1,000 mph.

After conducting an intensive preliminary feasibility, design and optimisation program for the Bullet Project, Rocket Lab was selected as the prime contractor to design, develop and test the engines which will be running a JP-5 equivalent bio-fuel with H₂O₂. The engines feature an ablatively cooled composite combustion chamber and nozzle, with Nitrogen pressurant being used to drive the fuel and oxidiser into the engines. This eliminates the added mass and complexity of turbo-pumps and associated power sources.

Previous Projects

Martin Jet Pack

Rocket Lab was contracted by Martin Aircraft Company to develop a prototype rocket assisted parachute extraction and inflation system. The system was designed to operate at minimal altitude and airspeed for emergency recovery of a manned ultralight vehicle. Rocket Lab successfully developed, and static ground tested the entire system featuring a solid fuel tow motor, cross parachute and a novel mechanical aid to rapidly inflate the parachute at near zero airspeed. The solid fuel rocket engine was the result of an intensive development program using Rocket Lab’s small scale rocket engine test facility. The entire project is a showcase for Rocket Lab’s ability to undertake complex, difficult projects and develop a successful, cost-effective solution in an incredibly short time frame. The entire project from feasibility to successful static firing of the system took just four weeks.

Aerospike Nozzle Technology Demonstrator

Rocket Lab has active research programs in Aerospike nozzle technology. The advantages of Aerospike nozzles are well understood however the mass penalty still remains prohibitive

Rocket Lab has been focused on achieving actual performance results from real nozzles to help understand the trade offs. In addition to this work Rocket Lab has developed a small cold gas demonstrator thruster that utilises a linear variable movable cone to demonstrate how an engine (solid fuel) might be throttled by changing the ring orifice areas.

Hydrogen Peroxide Thruster Research

Rocket Lab has significant experience in H₂O₂ propulsion technology. The company has the ability to manufacture small quantities of 95% H₂O₂ for test bed engine research and demonstrator projects. To date the company has completed research into mono propellant and hypergolic bi-propellant operation. A significant portion of the research was focused on liquid catalysts to remove the troublesome metallic catalyst packs. The liquid catalyst was placed in solution with methanol to provide a hypergolic liquid bi-propellant system.

Rocket Powered Dragster

Rocket Lab has developed an environmentally-friendly rocket engine for use on a rocket-powered dragster. What makes this rocket unique is that it runs completely on water.

The engine develops over three tons of thrust for five seconds and exploits the expansion of super-heated water to steam through a unique nozzle to provide thrust. The engine is pre-charged via a plug-in auxiliary super heater and once ready will stay in an inert state for up to an hour until ready to launch.

The rocket engine has been fully built but we haven't yet had the opportunity to build a suitable vehicle... or find a driver willing to endure acceleration of up to 420 km per hour in five seconds.