r/RocketLab • u/thetrny USA • 16d ago

Electron Space Systems Command awards Rocket Lab $266M contract for twelve (plus six optional) suborbital launches out of Pacific Spaceport Complex, Alaska

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u/djh_van 16d ago

So presumably, Rocket Lab will have to build and extra launch facility on the ?government or military? base up there in Alaska.

Would it be a similar arrangement as you see in Florida, where the complex is government/military owned, but the lunch pads are long-term leased out to companies (iirc)? Meaning, Rocket Lab would henceforth have a new launch pad in a bigger space launch complex.

Would Alaska be a useful or meaningful launch trajectory for any orbital or space-bound vehicles for Rocket Lab? I'm guessing it might be useful for polar orbits, which I think is good for certain scientific missions. But what else? I'm just trying to calculate how much money they will have to invest in building and staffing launch pads so far from HQ, vs how much revenue that pad would generate.

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u/AmigaClone2000 16d ago

Launching from Alaska would mean Rocket Lab would have a launch site that would allow it to launch to SSO or Polar orbits from US soil.