By Peter Beck, CEO
This week, I had the honor of being inducted into the EY World Entrepreneur Hall of Fame . To me, representing New Zealand at such prestigious business awards is a testament to not only the accomplishments of the team at Rocket Lab, but of the increasing importance of space as a commercial industry. We’re seeing a paradigm shift - traditionally, it has been countries that go to space, not companies.
Rocket Lab was founded with the goal of making space accessible to commercial business. Our customers - including NASA, Planet, Spire and Moon Express - are taking on some of the world’s biggest challenges and offering solutions to help us understand and monitor climate change, better respond to natural disaster, track lost aircraft and optimize crop production. I see the provision of internet to developing nations as one of the most powerful global changes Rocket Lab can contribute to. Disseminating the knowledge of the world, access to education and information globally will be a game changer for many.
What our team accomplished last month was incredible. We had a hugely successful first test launch with a great first stage burn, stage separation, second stage ignition and fairing separation - all of the key, and generally most challenging events.
We’re busy analyzing data from flight one, and I know everyone is looking forward to hearing what we have learned. While we have a strong understanding of why we believe we didn’t quite reach orbit, we’ll be looking to make a formal conclusion about an absolute root cause. As soon as we’re ready, we’ll look to make more details publicly available.
Along with preparations for test flight two and three, our team is focussed on how we can scale to deliver launch opportunities at a truly unprecedented frequency.
One of piece of news which may be of interest - we’re supported by a wonderful fan base, and in recognition of them we have made the commitment to stream our second and third test flight.
A big thanks to those who have supported us in getting to where we are today.
Cheers,
Pete
