Elon Musk may soon face a formidable challenger in the space industry. Peter Beck, the CEO of Rocket Lab USA, Inc. RKLB, is preparing to launch a new, larger rocket that could rival Musk’s SpaceX and potentially disrupt the billionaire’s space dominance.
What Happened: In a recent conversation with Business Insider, Beck revealed his plans to launch a new, larger rocket, named Neutron, in mid-2025. The Neutron is expected to be a direct competitor to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, offering partially reusable transportation of cargo into orbit at a fraction of the cost of traditional rockets.
“Neutron is really important for two reasons. One, we need to bring some balance to the market with the Falcon 9, but we also need a vehicle of our own to launch our own satellites and put our own stuff in orbit,” Beck said.
Despite SpaceX’s current dominance in the space industry, Beck believes that offering businesses a rocket that can compete with the Falcon 9 will provide valuable choices, especially for companies building rivals to SpaceX’s satellite internet service, Starlink.
The New Zealand native did not attend college and worked at a dishwasher manufacturer before founding Rocket Lab, which now boasts a market capitalization of $3.5 billion. Beck, who experimented with rockets and jet engines in his spare time, has transformed Rocket Lab into one of the world’s leading space companies, second only to SpaceX in the number of commercial rocket launches.
The company’s Electron rocket celebrated its 50th launch earlier this year, and the larger Neutron rocket is expected to launch in mid-2025.
Why It Matters: Musk’s SpaceX has been making significant strides in the space industry, with plans to ramp up operations and execute missions every two days in 2025. Musk has also been vocal about his intention to colonize Mars using SpaceX’s newest giant rocket, Starship.
This came after Musk took a dig at Boeing, saying aircraft companies would not dominate the space industry, similar to how car makers cannot dominate the aircraft business.
Musk was referring to aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which also makes space systems. NASA announced on Saturday that it would return the two astronauts who went to space via Boeing's Starliner spacecraft – Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore – via a SpaceX vehicle in February.
Williams and Wilmore launched into space on June 5 aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Though the two were supposed to return in about eight days, technical issues identified with the spacecraft while docking delayed the return journey, and now the agency has decided to scrap bringing the astronauts back on the Boeing spacecraft altogether.
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Photo courtesy: Rocket Lab
This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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