{"id":56213,"date":"2021-12-14T23:31:03","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T15:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/rocket-lab-to-acquire-space-solar-power-provider-solaero\/"},"modified":"2021-12-14T23:31:03","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T15:31:03","slug":"rocket-lab-to-acquire-space-solar-power-provider-solaero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/rocket-lab-to-acquire-space-solar-power-provider-solaero\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab to Acquire Space Solar Power Provider SolAero"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p>As California-based&nbsp;<strong>Rocket Lab <\/strong>looks to provide its Neutron rocket for future <strong>U.S. Space Force<\/strong> launches, the company on Dec. 13 took a step toward alternative power sources when the company said it plans to buy for $80 million New Mexico-based&nbsp;<strong>SolAero<\/strong>, a marquee supplier of space solar power products.<\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab said it expects to seal the deal early next year\u2013an acquisition that may give the firm some leverage, as Pentagon officials look to more environmentally-friendly systems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe acquisition aligns with Rocket Lab\u2019s growth strategy of vertical integration to deliver a comprehensive space solution that spans spacecraft manufacture, satellite subsystems, flight software, ground operations, and launch,\u201d Rocket Lab said in a statement on Dec. 13. \u201cAs one of only two companies producing high-efficiency, space-grade solar cells in the United States, SolAero\u2019s space solar cells are among the highest performing in the world and support civil space exploration, science, defense and intelligence, and commercial markets. In combining with Rocket Lab, SolAero will tap into the company\u2019s resources and manufacturing capability to boost high-volume production, making high-performing space power technologies available at scale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rocket Lab ticked off a list of what the company said were SolAero\u2019s accomplishments, including&nbsp;supplying power to <strong>NASA<\/strong>\u2019s Parker Solar Probe and Mars Insight Lander, the largest solar array ever deployed on the surface of Mars, several Cygnus Cargo Resupply Missions to the International Space Station, and the development and building of the solar power on Ingenuity, the helicopter that flew on Mars in April.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSolAero technology has also made commercial constellations possible, providing power to <strong>OneWeb<\/strong>\u2019s broadband constellation,\u201d per Rocket Lab. Most recently, \u201cSolAero has been selected to supply solar power modules for the power and propulsion element of NASA\u2019s Gateway as part of NASA\u2019s Artemis lunar exploration plans, which will enable future missions to Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This acquisition caps off a busy year for Rocket Lab. In 2021, the company passed the 100-satellite deployment milestone, went&nbsp;public via a SPAC, unveiled plans for the larger&nbsp;Neutron rocket, and&nbsp;acquired space software company&nbsp;<b>Advanced Solutions<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was first published by our sister publication Defense Daily.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As California-based&nbsp;Rocket Lab looks to provide its Neutron rocket for future U.S. Space Force launches, the company on Dec. 13 took a step toward alternative power sources when the company said it plans to buy for $80 million New Mexico-based&nbsp;SolAero, a marquee supplier of space solar power products. Rocket Lab said it expects to seal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}