If you’re into 3D printing and Space Exploration, you’re going to love Rocket Lab!
With Rocket Lab, you won’t find Grand Plans to Colonize Mars like SpaceX, or goals to have millions of people living and working in space like Blue Origin.
Or you won’t find a company that is mastering the engineering feat of landing rockets.

But you will find artistry in their engineering, and if you don’t become a fan of Rocket Lab after watching this, at the very least they are a small company that deserves to be known.
In the past 8 years, the number of commercial space companies has grown from a little over 50 in 2010, to over 200 today.
There will be plenty of opportunities for many many companies in the future, the Space industry generated $250 billion in 2016 and that figure will continue to grow as the space economy expands from LEO to cislunar space and beyond.
That’s why we are going to eventually get to know ALL of the promising companies and major players in the Space industry so we can better understand what’s on the horizon!
So, let’s talk about Rocket Lab!
Rocket Lab is a private company, headquartered out of Huntington Beach, CA.
It was founded in 2006 by New Zealander Peter Beck and is backed by major investors including Khosla Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Data Collective, Promus Ventures, Lockheed Martin and K1W1.
The company originated in New Zealand but due to various reasons it became a US Company with a New Zealand subsidiary.
Rocket Lab plans to launch most of their missions from the world’s first private orbital launch range in Mahia, New Zealand, which they operate.
The launch range can accommodate 120 launches annually and will allow them to have cheap launch costs compared to launching in the US.
Rocket Lab has a commercial Space Launch Act Agreement with NASA, so when the need arises, they will also launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39C.
In 2009 while still based out of New Zealand, they successfully launched the suborbital rocket, the Ātea-1 and reached an altitude of over 120 km as they claim to be the first Private company in the Southern Hemisphere to reach space.
Rocket Lab’s mission is to remove the barriers to commercial space by providing frequent launch opportunities to low Earth orbit
And there are barriers for companies who want to send small satellites or SmallSats into space, and the bigger aerospace companies can’t keep up with the growing demand of launching small satellites.
So, there is a growing Small Satellite, or SmallSat market.
There 5 different size classes of smallsats that I won’t go into but these are satellites that can weigh as little as 10 grams up to 500 kg.
Currently, SmallSats must wait for space-available piggyback slots on high-powered rockets operated by major commercial players, such as United Launch Alliance and SpaceX.
There is a continuous backlog of SmallSats waiting to be launched, and there aren’t enough launches to keep up with the demand.

Sources:
http://spaceworksforecast.com/docs/SpaceWorks_Nano_Microsatellite_Market_Forecast_2017.pdf
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/electron.htm
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/electron/
http://spacenews.com/rocket-lab-scrubs-electron-launch-after-last-second-abort/