New Wallops Factory Will Host Launch Pad, Control Center, Fabrication, and Refurbishing Capability

Manufacturing expansions for California-based Rocket Lab have been announced for the company's next-generation Neutron Rocket, with a new 250,000-square-foot factory primed to kickstart operations on the east coast. 

Locals are excited about the addition to the economy as the space industry grows to accommodate a far higher level of activity than ever before. Until now, Rocket Lab's operations nearby have been limited to its smaller, lighter Electron Rocket, taking off from Launch Pad 2. Now, the advanced facility, equipped with extensive carbon composite production systems, will be the hub of the most advanced Rocket Lab product yet. Rocketry is no simple field of work, bringing more than 250 jobs to Wallops Island, Virginia - great news for the state, says governor Glenn Youngkin. “This important project reinforces the Eastern Shore’s legacy as an aerospace hub that offers the infrastructure for manufacturing and developing new technologies, and we look forward to a long partnership with Rocket Lab,” said Youngkin. Rocket Lab said one of the biggest draws of the area is the "active and experienced aerospace workforce we can pull from to support Neutron's development and launch," describing the area as "enthusiastic" about the project. 

The facility will be placed quite handily within the same area of other spaceport facilities operated by NASA, as well as Launch Complex 2, the company's first launch pad in the United States. The location will become the new hub for all things Neutron from production, assembly, and integration, to post-flight refurbishment and reloading of the 8-ton payload Neutron. The complex will have its own launch pad, and Launch Control Center, the 5th in the company's global operations portfolio. The reusable Neutron system will, if all goes as planned, allow nearly every aspect of the launch system to stay within spitting range of the Wallops location. The Neutron will launch, deliver its payload, and return right back home after each flight, enabling rapid turnaround for the next launch. 

Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck, says: “Neutron is a new generation of rocket that will advance the way space is accessed, and Virginia makes perfect sense as a significant site for Neutron’s early development. Its position on the eastern seaboard is the ideal location to support both Neutron’s expected frequent launch cadence and the rocket’s return-to-Earth capability of landing back at its launch site after lift-off; and as one of only four states in the United States with an FAA spaceport license for missions to Earth orbit or on interplanetary trajectories, Virginia is home to an active and experienced aerospace workforce we can pull from to support Neutron’s development and launch. I’m thankful for the Commonwealth’s enthusiasm and backing of Neutron which, combined with the state’s rich heritage as an aerospace state, made it difficult to see anywhere else but Virginia to begin Neutron’s journey.”

FMI: www.rocketlabusa.com