Rocket Lab aims to deliver small satellites to the Moon and beyond
https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/21/rocket-lab-aims-to-deliver-small-satellites-to-the-moon-and-beyond/
Rocket Lab kicked off the International Astronautical Congress with the news that it’ll begin offering small satellite delivery service to orbits beyond low Earth orbit, where it currently operates – including delivering payloads all the way to the Moon. The longer-range service will be provided via its Photon spacecraft, which it’ll pair with a new additional stage to add range to the vehicle. The company expects to be able to begin serving customers with this new combined, longer range spacecraft possibly as early as Q4 2020.
This will extends significantly the launch startup’s effective operating range, which since it began serving customers last year has been entirely focused on the LEO range (from between around 200 miles and 1,200 miles above the surface of the Earth). Rocket Lab CEO and founder Peter Beck said in a press release announcing the news that this is in response to additional inbound interest in reaching these orbits, from both government and private sector clients.