LONG BEACH, Calif., Oct. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Rocket Lab Corporation (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a global leader in launch services and space systems, today announced that it has signed a direct contract for two dedicated Electron launches with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which signifies Electron’s importance to international space agencies requiring responsive launch and dedicated access. towards space.
Launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, the two Electron missions will deploy satellites for JAXA’s innovative satellite technology demonstration program. The first launch, scheduled to begin in December 2025, will deploy the agency’s RApid Innovative SatellitE-4 (RAISE-4) payload demonstration spacecraft, a unique satellite that will demonstrate eight technologies developed by private companies, universities and research institutes across Japan.
The second launch, planned for 2026, is a JAXA-manifested ride of eight separate spacecraft including small educational satellites, an ocean monitoring satellite, a demonstration satellite for ultra-small multispectral cameras, and a deployable antenna that can be packed tightly using origami folding techniques and deployed up to 25 times its size.
Rocket Lab Founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck said: “It is an incredible honor to be entrusted by JAXA to further its innovation and development goals for Japan. These missions are a demonstration of Electron’s global importance – supporting the growth of the Japanese space industry with the launch of a US rocket from a New Zealand launch site – and we are proud to see ourselves entrust their mission. Japanese satellite operators have long looked to Electron for its reliability and responsiveness since its inception. launches – whether building a constellation for Japan’s new wave of commercial satellite operators or tailor-made missions requiring responsive mission planning and high-precision payload deployment.
Rocket Lab is a launch leader for the Japanese space industry, with more than two dozen dedicated missions booked to fly on Electron through the end of the decade. These include constellation deployment missions for satellite operators iQPS and Synspective, in addition to the multiple launches already carried out this year with 100% mission success. Other successful missions for Japanese satellite operators include the “On Closer Inspection” mission in February 2024 for Astroscale-Japan for the first phase of its orbital debris removal program; and the “Running Out Of Fingers” mission launched in 2019 for the Tokyo-based company ALE.
Mission information regarding the first Rocket Lab launch for JAXA next month will be announced soon.
Rocket Lab Media Contact Murielle Baker media@rocketlabusa.com
About Rocket Lab Rocket Lab is a leading space company providing launch services, spacecraft, payloads and satellite components for commercial, government and national security markets. Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket is the most frequently launched small orbital rocket in the world; its HASTE rocket provides hypersonic test launch capability to the U.S. government and allied countries; and its Neutron launcher in development will unlock medium launch for constellation deployment, national security and exploration missions. Rocket Lab’s spacecraft and satellite components have enabled more than 1,700 missions spanning commercial, defense and national security missions, including GPS, constellation and exploration missions to the Moon, Mars and Venus. Rocket Lab is a company listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange (RKLB). Learn more at www.rocketlabcorp.com.
Forward-looking statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We intend that such forward-looking statements are covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements in this press release other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding our launch and space systems operations, launch schedule and window, safe and repeatable access to space, Neutron development, operational expansion and business strategy are forward-looking statements. The words “believe”, “may”, “will”, “estimate”, “potential”, “continue”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “expect”, “strategy”, “future”, “could”, “would”, “project”, “plan”, “target” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements use these words or expressions. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the factors, risks and uncertainties included in our annual report on form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, such factors may be. updated from time to time in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and in the Investor Relations section of our website at www.rocketlabcorp.com, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements made in this release. press. These forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. Although we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we undertake no obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.
