![\"Rocket](\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/rocketlab_new_cover_638320802735570038.png\")
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Rocket Lab USA, one of the global leaders in launch services and space systems, officially opened the Company\u2019s new Engine Development Center in Long Beach, California. The 144,000+ square foot advanced manufacturing complex will support the high-rate production of Rocket Lab\u2019s 3D printed Rutherford engine, as well as the development and production of the new Archimedes engine that will power the Company\u2019s new medium-lift rocket, Neutron. <\/p>\n
The facility was formerly Virgin Orbit\u2019s headquarters and factory for the Launcher One vehicle. Rocket Lab took over the lease for the facility and acquired the factory\u2019s production assets, machinery, and equipment in May 2023 for $16.1 million, generating significant savings for the Neutron\u2019s production program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are proud and excited to continue growing our Long Beach team and footprint by increasing production of our advanced rocket engines right here in Space Beach,\u201d said Rocket Lab Founder and CEO Peter Beck<\/strong>. \u201cThis Engine Development Center builds on the legacy of the Rutherford engine and signals a new era at Rocket Lab with the development of Archimedes, our new large LOx\/methane engine which will power the reusable Neutron rocket. By co-locating our Engine Development Center near our Long Beach headquarters and production complex, we\u2019ve maximized collaboration between our engineering and manufacturing to ensure streamlined efficiency as we continue ramping up Electron launch cadence and get closer to Neutron\u2019s debut launch.\u201d<\/p>\n The Engine Development Center was officially opened by Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson<\/strong>. \u201cI am proud to welcome and celebrate Rocket Lab\u2019s new state-of-the-art Engine Development Center here in Long Beach,\u201d said Mayor Rex Richardson. \u201cBy choosing Long Beach for this new expansion, it further cements our role as a nationally significant hub of space technology and manufacturing.\u201d<\/p>\n After being manufactured at the Engine Development Center, the completed Archimedes engines will undergo testing at NASA\u2019s historic Stennis Space Center in Mississippi where Rocket Lab is establishing a dedicated test facility at the A-3 Test Stand. From there, the Archimedes engines will be integrated into the Neutron launch vehicle in preparation for lift-off from Rocket Lab\u2019s Launch Complex 3 at Virginia Spaceport Authority\u2019s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA\u2019s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Rutherford engines complete testing in New Zealand before integration onto Electron and launch from Rocket Lab\u2019s two Electron launch sites; Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand and Launch Complex 2 in Virginia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rocket Lab USA, one of the global leaders in launch services and space systems, officially opened the Company\u2019s new Engine Development Center in Long Beach, California. The 144,000+ square foot advanced manufacturing complex will support the high-rate production of Rocket Lab\u2019s 3D printed Rutherford engine, as well as the development and production of the new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[25,58,54,20],"class_list":["post-8139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-launch","tag-launch-vehicle-engines","tag-launch-vehicle-platforms","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8139"}],"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=8139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}