Rocket Lab's share price in the US has surged since it won big Pentagon contracts. File photo. Photo: Supplied / Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is poised to launch a satellite from Mahia Peninsula for a US company which is looking to bolster military and spying operations.
BlackSky's plan is to add laser optic links later to its Gen-3 satellites to give "war-fighters real-time access to imagery during time-sensitive military operations worldwide".
This comes shortly after Rocket Lab won a part in a mega-deal to help develop hypersonic weapons for the Pentagon, prompting the firm to state it was "ready to serve the US Department of Defense".
BlackSky's first Gen-3 satellite recently completed encapsulation onto an Electron rocket at Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 in in New Zealand. Photo: Supplied
The New York-listed, New Zealand-born company has also completed a design review for 18 military satellites in a contract worth more than $800 million, for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), which is putting up a web of low-orbit satellites for missile tracking and battlefield comms.
That deal, which was signed last year, cemented Rocket Lab as a "prime" - or lead - defence contractor in the US.
The Mahia launch is set down for some time from Tuesday, and will be the first of several Gen-3s for BlackSky, which has used the site near Gisborne since 2019.
The government last year dismissed pro-Palestinian protesters complaints it breached rules on launches.
The new satellites have more powerful cameras effective in haze and at night.
The optical links, to be added after a study funded by the US Navy, aim to boost image volume by five times and the speed of sharing images to the ground by 10 times, the company said.
The launch of four Gen-3 satellites was approved by the Minister for Space in 2023, to join BlackSky's operational constellation "for the purpose of Earth observation", the MBIE approval document said.
Six months ago, BlackSky said it would make Gen-3s compatible with military networks. It won a $175m satellite contract with an unnamed international defence customer last month.
Its constellation of small satellites also has civilian uses, such as in mapping natural disasters.
Rocket Lab's share price in the US has surged since it won big Pentagon contracts.
It said it was committed "to delivering world-class satellite solutions for national defence... that will strengthen US defence capabilities in space".
Defence contractor stocks are volatile. They have surged in Europe as NATO has come under the hammer to raise spending.
But uncertainty surrounds the new US administration. It has let Elon Musk loose on Pentagon spending, and wants a cut in conventional spending, but at the same time signalled it wants rapid take-up of "emerging" military technologies, which could be good for space or intelligence operators like Peter Thiel's Palantir.
Rocket Lab's Electron rockets are the second most launched annually in the US, behind only SpaceX.
It has signed on as a subcontractor to a five-year hypersonics contract worth up to $2.5 billion, won by San Diego firm Kratos. This aims to provide "rapid and affordable hypersonic flight testing".
Rocket Lab has already done multiple hypersonic test launches from its Virginia launchpad.
These were "testament to our dedication in advancing hypersonic innovation for the nation [US]", it said.
Hypersonic missiles can reach Mach 5-plus and are highly manoeuvrable in flight. Russia used one against Ukraine last November.
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