Mission details for today's 98th Electron launch: 🎯 Customer: @hawkeye360 🛰️ Payload: 3x HAWK RF-sensing satellites 🌏 Orbit: 520km LEO 📍 Inclination: 97 degrees

Blue skies for launch. Electron is vertical on the pad and ready for our 98th launch with a mission for @hawkeye360. 'We're Not Hawking Around' launch window opens: 🚀8:00pm NZDT 🚀07:00 UTC 🚀3:00 am EDT 🚀00:00 am PDT

We're back on the pad at LC-1 with our next launch attempt for Electron's 98th mission - "We're Not Hawking Around" for @hawkeye360 Launch window opens: 🚀8:00pm NZDT 🚀07:00 UTC 🚀3:00 am EDT 🚀00:00 am PDT

Faster tests. Double the capacity. Built for reliability. Supporting an increased launch cadence in 2027🚀

It's being built to take a beating. Upgrading from our heritage high temperature ceramic ramp, the new facility features a stainless steel, water-cooled ramp to absorb the extreme heat and force of engine exhaust, test after test. And it's designed for all-weather testing, meaning a predictable test cadence come rain, wind, or shine.

Demand for Electron and HASTE missions continues to grow and our manifest has never been busier. To increase launch cadence, streamlining production and test operations is key. The new facility will cut stack test time in half, from 2–3 days down to less than a day.

First, what's a stack test? Before Electron's first or second stage flies, we fire it here on Earth as an integrated system, with Rutherford engines igniting and plumbing and avionics all working together just as they will on launch day. This process is called a static fire or a stack test. It’s one of the final tests before we move into wet dress rehearsal on the launch pad in Wallops or Mahia, and then onto launch day.  Every single Electron and HASTE rocket launched so far have been through this process. (This video features the existing stack facility, not the new one)

High cadence launch needs high cadence testing. With more than 100 launches in backlog (and counting), we're building a new state-of-the-art test facility to accelerate static fire stack testing for Electron and HASTE rockets. Check out the new test pad underway within our Propulsion Test Complex 🧵👇

We have completed breakover operations for the Neutron Stage 2 tank assembly, rotating the stage horizontal – a critical step in the handling of large rocket sections for integration and assembly. Here’s a last look at Stage 2 on the Neutron Factory floor before it’s wrapped up (literally) for barge shipment to LC-3 on Wallops Island where its fluid systems will be tested and its Archimedes vacuum engine installed.

The Maxwell spacecraft is in orbit and ready to get to work. The spacecraft we built for @viasat launched from Cape Canaveral yesterday. Over the next five months, it will demonstrate how Viasat's ViaSat-3 Ka-band and global L-band networks can give low Earth orbit missions near real-time data and telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) at any point in orbit, supporting @NASA's Communications Services Project as it prepares to retire its TDRS fleet. Congratulations to the Viasat team on a successful launch!

We're standing down from today's launch attempt for @hawkeye360 to review out-of-family telemetry data observed during vertical operations on the pad. Further launch opportunities are available throughout the week, standby for a new launch date soon.

Operations will begin shortly for our 98th Electron launch and next mission from LC-1 for @hawkeye360. 'We're Not Hawking Around' launch window opens: 🚀8:00pm NZDT 🚀07:00 UTC 🚀3:00 am EDT 🚀00:00 am PDT

The first multi-spacecraft science mission to Mars is about to make its big move. Next month, Blue and Gold – the twin spacecraft we built for @NASA and @ucbssl – will swing close past Earth and each fire their main engine in a single, continuous burn, using Earth's gravity to amplify the burn as they set course for Mars. It's a maneuver that's never been successfully done before. Our mission ops team is in full rehearsal mode for @escapade_mars' trans-Mars injection. Learn more about ESCAPADE: rocketlabcorp.com/missions/e…

Production of the new carbon composite forward dome for Neutron’s Stage 1 propellant tank is underway. Our automated fiber placement (AFP) machine follows a computer-controlled course to lay down thousands of strands of carbon fiber - each thinner than a human hair - at speeds of up to 100 meters per minute to create Stage 1’s structures on custom molds. Once the AFP machine is finished with the new forward dome it will be rolled out, inspected, then prepared for the curing process to harden the carbon composite.

Wet Dress Rehearsal DONE ✅ Electron is ready for its 98th launch and latest mission from Launch Complex 1. 'We're Not Hawking Around' will deploy 3x HAWK satellites to a 520km LEO for @hawkeye360 to expand their RF-sensing constellation that collects signal data for maritime tracking, radar monitoring, and more. The launch window opens tomorrow, Oct 21: 🚀8:00pm NZDT 🚀07:00 UTC 🚀3:00 am EDT 🚀00:00 am PDT

Congratulations to the team in Munich who continue to deliver mission-critical communications capability to customers, while scaling production to meet growing demand.

Great to have you through our Long Beach production complex, @CAgovernor! Proud to be building on California's extensive aerospace heritage and creating the future.

28.1 miles on Mars, powered by Rocket Lab hardware. NASA's Perseverance rover has now driven 28.1 miles (45.2 km) across the Red Planet in just five and a half years, breaking an off-world driving record that took Opportunity nearly 15 years to set. Rocket Lab solar panels powered Perseverance's cruise to Mars, then on the surface, Rocket Lab Robotics (formerly Motiv Space Systems) hardware helps turn those miles into science — from the Mastcam-Z camera mechanisms that zoom in on targets, to the 7-foot robotic arm placing instruments against Martian rock with sub-millimeter precision. Every mile is another step in the search for signs of ancient life.

Today we shared an update on Neutron's development, including adjusting the schedule for flight one to 2027. Full details: investors.rocketlabcorp.com/…

When it comes to dedicated small launch, nothing flies more often than Electron 🚀 We're proud to keep that momentum going in the lead up to our 100th launch. Here's what's on the manifest for our next three missions: 🦅 "We're Not Hawking Around" – @HawkEye360 | NET Oct 21 🌊 "The Sea God Surveys" – @QPS_Inc | NET Nov 4 ⛰️ "The Mountain God Rises" – @QPS_Inc | NET Nov 10