Rocket Lab Expands Footprint with New Long Beach
Headquarters and Production Complex
14 January 2020
Rocket Lab will open a new facility
which will serve as its Corporate Headquarters, provide
incremental production capacity, and bring Mission
Control Center capabilities to Long Beach, California.
Construction on Rocket Lab’s Long
Beach Complex has begun, with the facility scheduled for
completion in the second quarter of 2020. The Complex
has been designed to produce more than 12 full Electron
launch vehicles each year to support a monthly launch
cadence from Rocket Lab’s first U.S. launch site, Launch
Complex 2 in Wallops Island, Virginia. Production
facilities for Rocket Lab’s flagship Rutherford engine
will also be expanded, with the company planning to
produce more than 150 engines for the Electron launch
vehicle in 2020.
Rocket Lab’s rapidly growing
satellite manufacturing capabilities are a key driver
behind the new Long Beach complex. In 2019 the company
expanded beyond launch services and began designing and
manufacturing Rocket Lab satellites to provide an
end-to-end mission service. Based on flight-proven
technology employed in the Electron Kick Stage, Rocket
Lab satellites are a complete spacecraft solution for a
range of LEO and Lunar orbit missions, from
constellation development, through to technology
demonstrations and hosted payloads. The new Long Beach
complex will support end-to-end production and testing
of Rocket Lab satellites, with the first satellites
booked to launch on Electron from Q3 2020.
Rocket Lab’s first U.S-based
Mission Control Center will also be located at the Long
Beach Complex. By operating two launch sites and two
Mission Control Centers, Rocket Lab can conduct
simultaneous launches from Launch Complexes 1 and 2 to
meet the growing need for responsive space launch.
Rocket Lab Founder and CEO, Peter
Beck, says the new Long Beach Complex will mean larger
production facilities, purpose-built customer experience
areas and room to grow as the company enters another
busy launch year.
“As we enter our third year of
orbital launches and expand into satellite
manufacturing, we’re investing in major infrastructure
and growing our team to provide frequent and reliable
access to orbit for small satellites,” he said. “Long
Beach is an ideal location for our team; it has a
vibrant space community, it’s close to many of our
suppliers and offers room to grow as our operations do.
The City of Long Beach has been incredibly welcoming,
and we look forward to working with them to continue
growing the local space economy.”
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia says
“we are incredibly excited to see Rocket Lab move to
Long Beach. The expansion of this company in a city with
an aerospace history as rich as ours will support new
jobs and economic growth in the region.”
There are currently more than 50
roles open for positions at the new Long Beach Complex,
including positions in engineering, avionics production,
Mission Management, Launch Services and more.
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