What will it take to put humans on Mars and keep them safe while they’re there?

Peter_J_Beck lays out the case for building the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter now. MTO is the critical infrastructure that makes a sustained presence on Mars possible.

📰 Read the op-ed in SpaceNews_Inc : bit.ly/4h9hpm2

📣 It’s time for another Electron launch!

🇯🇵 ‘The Nation God Navigates’ will be our sixth mission for QPS_Inc, making Rocket Lab the go-to provider for their Earth-imaging constellation.

Launch window opens:

⏰ 11:45 am Pacific, November 5
⏰ 2:45 pm Eastern, November 5
⏰ 19:45 UTC, November 5
⏰ 4:45 am JST, November 6
⏰ 8:45 am NZT, November 6

Built. Integrated. Preparing to fuel the future.

Our Photon spacecraft for eta_space & NASA's LOXSAT cryogenic fueling mission is complete ✅

🛰️ An end-to-end Rocket Lab mission
🌐 Tech demo to support orbital propellant depots
🚀 Launching on Electron in early 2026

Read more: bit.ly/4qmAl55

Mars isn’t easy.

Orbit gaps could leave explorers out of contact. Power’s always a challenge. And reliable communication is in demand.

Rocket Lab’s Mars Telecommunications Orbiter will change that. Our MTO will bring reliable relay coverage, high-bandwidth communication, and a design built to keep Mars connected. 🌎➡️🔴 bit.ly/41NH6lV

Payload integration and encapsulation are complete for our next Electron mission and sixth launch for QPS_Inc.

🚀 Launch window for ‘The Nation God Navigates’ opens November 5 UTC / November 6 NZT.

Tucked in and ready for flight ✅

Our two spacecraft for NASA & ucbssl's ESCAPADE mission have been successfully encapsulated into the rocket fairing. This is the last time they'll be seen on Earth before their mission to Mars.

Next stop: The launch pad. 🚀

Mars, we're coming for you! 🔴 🛰️ 🛰️

Soon, our twin Explorer spacecraft built for NASA & ucbssl ESCAPADE mission will begin their journey to the Red Planet to study the history of its climate.

The mission will study how the solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic environment and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape, revealing how Mars changed from warm and wet to the cold, dry world we see today.

By flying two spacecraft in different orbits around Mars, ESCAPADE will get a dual viewpoint to solve the mystery of Mars' atmospheric escape. It’s a low-cost mission delivering high-impact science

Wet Dress Rehearsal complete and we are GO for our upcoming launch attempt for “The Nation God Navigates” for QPS_Inc.

Our next dedicated launch for iQPS’ constellation will deploy their QPS-SAR-14 satellite or YACHIHOKO-I to a 575km LEO.

Launch window opens:
🚀 8:45 am NZDT, Nov 6
🚀 4:45 am JST, Nov 6
🚀 19:45 UTC, Nov 5
🚀 2:45 pm ET, Nov 5
🚀 11:45 am PT, Nov 5

Today's the day

It’s a beautiful day for a rocket launch. Preparations are underway at LC-1 for Electron’s next launch for QPS_Inc.

🚀Mission Name: “The Nation God Navigates”
🎯 Customer: iQPS
🛰️ Payload: QPS-SAR-14 or YACHIHOKO-I
🌏 Orbit: 575km LEO
📍 Launch Site: Pad B, LC-1

Electron is vertical on the pad at LC-1. T-4 hours to launch for our 16th mission of the year.

Today’s target lift-off time:
🚀 8:51 am NZDT, Nov 6
🚀 4:51 am JST, Nov 6
🚀 19:51 UTC, Nov 5
🚀 2:51 pm ET, Nov 5
🚀 11:51 am PT, Nov 5

Today’s Electron launch will be our sixth dedicated mission for Japan-based Earth imaging company QPS_Inc.

🌕 The Moon God Awakens (2023)
⚡ The Lightning God Reigns (2025)
🌊 The Sea God Sees (2025)
⛰️ The Mountain God Guards (2025)
🌿 The Harvest Goddess Guards (2025)

Next up: 🇯🇵 “The Nation God Navigates”, scheduled to lift-off in T-3 hours.

LOX fuelling has begun at Launch Complex 1 for today’s “The Nation God Navigates” mission. The weather forecast is favorable for launch at 8:51 NZT/19:51 UTC.

We can confirm launches from LC-1 in New Zealand are unaffected by the restrictions, as these launches do not operate in U.S. airspace. We also expect minimal impact to launches from LC-2 in Virginia.

L-2 days until ESCAPADE launches! Soon, the twins will be on their way to Mars for NASA & ucbssl to reveal how the planet’s real-time response to space weather and how the Martian magnetosphere changes over time.

ESCAPADE is the FIRST multi-spacecraft science mission to Mars.

Who’s ready to make history?

Christophe, Lead Systems Engineer

Christophe was the main architect overseeing the design, build, and integration of the two spacecraft. Getting two satellites to Mars on a small budget and fast timeline? That’s all thanks to his team’s ingenuity and speed. 🛰️💨

“We’ve built two beautiful spacecraft through simplification, streamlining, and parallelizing them until they’ve burgeoned into the most elegant satellites I’ve ever seen.” - Christophe

Erin, Spacecraft Mechanical Engineer

Erin supported mechanical testing and GSE for the ESCAPADE spacecraft to ensure the twins were ready for the journey to Mars. She was instrumental in the tank vibration tests, designing the test fixtures and leading the procedures to confirm the tanks could withstand the intense environment of launch.

“Since I was a kid attending STEM camps or building telescope models to when I was in university building CubeSats, I’ve always dreamt of contributing to interplanetary exploration. Working on ESCAPADE has been a full-circle moment in seeing that dream realized. This project was an incredible opportunity to collaborate with exceptional engineers, and I am so proud to be apart of the RL team that put in the hard work and dedication to bring these spacecrafts to the finish line.” - Erin

Thank you for the ride, team blueorigin. What a launch (and landing!)

A spectacular start to the ESCAPADE mission for NASA and ucbssl.

🛰️🛰️ The twins are talking!

We have successfully established contact with both ESCAPADE spacecraft, 💙 Blue and 💛 Gold.

We're on our way to Mars to enable NASA and ucbssl to study the Martian magnetosphere!

MISSION SUCCESS! We've completed another HASTE launch from Launch Complex 2 today, this time for DIU_x and Missile Defense Agency to test advanced technologies for missile defense.

HASTE is an important platform for accelerating hypersonic technology readiness for the nation and we’re proud to have delivered this mission - our 6th HASTE launch overall.

LEARN MORE: bit.ly/4r5FK0J