Neutron is a medium-lift two-stage launch vehicle under development by

Rocket Lab Rocket Lab is a public American aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider, with a New Zealand subsidiary. The company operates lightweight Electron orbital rockets, which provide dedicated launches for small satellites. Rocket Lab also ...

. Announced on 1 March 2021, the vehicle is being designed to be capable of delivering a payload of to

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

in a partially reusable configuration, and will focus on the growing

megaconstellation A satellite internet constellation is a constellation of artificial satellites providing satellite internet service. In particular, the term has come to refer to a new generation of very large constellations (sometimes referred to as a megacon ...

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

delivery market. The vehicle is expected to be operational sometime in 2024. It uses

LOX Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...

and

liquid methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or other motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, the e ...

on both stages of the vehicle.

Design

An earlier design of Neutron, featured at the initial unveil in March 2021, featured a rocket tall with a -diameter

payload fairing A payload fairing is a nose cone used to protect a spacecraft payload against the impact of dynamic pressure and aerodynamic heating during launch through an atmosphere. An additional function on some flights is to maintain the cleanroom environm ...

. Rocket Lab stated that they intended for the first stage of the vehicle to be reusable, with landings planned on a

floating landing platform A floating launch vehicle operations platform is a marine vessel used for launch or landing operations of an orbital launch vehicle by a launch service provider: putting satellites into orbit around Earth or another celestial body, or recovering ...

downrange in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. On 2 December 2021, Rocket Lab unveiled a revised design for Neutron, featuring a tapered shape with a maximum diameter of . Rocket Lab abandoned plans for landing Neutron on a floating platform, instead opting for a return-to-launch-site reusability profile. Instead of a conventional

that is jettisoned and recovered at sea, the fairing is integrated into the vehicle, and opens during stage separation to release the second stage and payload, and then closes before the first stage lands back on earth. The rocket features a unique interstage design where the second stage is "hung" from the first stage structure. On the 22nd of September 2022, another revised design was unveiled at an investor day, with the first stage engine count increased from seven to nine, and the engine architecture changed from gas-generator to oxygen rich

staged combustion Staged combustion is a method used to reduce the emission of nitrogen oxides ( NOx) during combustion. There are two methods for staged combustion: air staged supply and fuel staged supply. Applications of staged combustion include boilers and ro ...

. This was done primarily to allow for a lower turbine temperature, while maintaining the same specific impulse. The engine will run with a significantly lower chamber pressure than other similar engines, at the cost of some performance. They have also reduced the number of fairing segments from four to two.

Operations

On 28 February 2022, Rocket Lab announced that Neutron will launch from the

Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and south of Chincoteague, Virgin ...

(MARS) within NASA's

Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately north-northeast of Norfolk. The facility is operated by the Goddard ...

on the eastern coast of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. It was also announced that the company will build a 250,000 square feet manufacturing and operations facility adjacent to the Wallops Flight Facility. Ground was broken for this facility on 11 April 2022. , Rocket Lab is planning for the first launch to take place no earlier than 2024.

Applications

Neutron can lift up to while expended, while landing the booster downrange and up to with the first stage returning to the launch site. Rocket Lab also intends the

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

to be able to eventually support

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

References

External links

Neutron update on YouTube (2 December 2021)
{{Rocket Lab

Neutron The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , which has a neutral (not positive or negative) charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the nuclei of atoms. Since protons and neutrons beh ...

Reusable launch systems Partially reusable space launch vehicles