New technology sectors inevitably splinter into specialization. When personal computers first launched, companies like Apple and IBM, who made computers, wound up kick starting specialization companies, like Microsoft for software, Cisco systems for routers and switchers, Intel for semiconductors, Hewlett Packard for printers, and many others that have since become household names. The entire industry has spawned numerous rivals and further specialization as it continued to grow and evolve.
SpaceX’s high profile has brought the rocket and satellite space industry back into the public eye, most recently with its rescue of the International Space Station astronauts that had been stranded in space for 9 months by the Biden Administration and its political concerns.
While SpaceX is certainly one of the largest and most successful of the private space industry companies, specialization is creating opportunities for some companies to become industry leaders in their own sub-categories while competing with SpaceX. Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB | RKLB Price Prediction) is one such company.
A Real Company; Not A Billionaire’s Hobby
The stranded astronauts were rescued by SpaceX and splashed down near Florida in a SpaceX Dragon craft.
Elon Musk’s devotion to SpaceX, which almost bankrupted him despite his Tesla holdings, is now paying off big time in terms of positive publicity. SpaceX has enabled the establishment of the Spacelink satellite network, which has already demonstrated superlative communications service to remote and devastated areas, such as for Hurricane Helene victims in NC and for war torn Ukraine. Most recently, SpaceX successfully rescued astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams after being stranded on the International Space Station for 9 months. Musk had previously offered to rescue them months ago, after Boeing’s multiple launch failures, but was rebuffed by the Biden Administration.
In an attempt to play “keeping up with the Joneses”, billionaire Jeff Bezos started Blue Origin and Richard Branson launched Virgin Galactic. Neither company has approach becoming truly commercially viable. However, the closest thing to a rival for SpaceX started out humbly out of New Zealand, and has now become a US rocket satellite company in its own right.
Rocket Lab has made some remarkable achievements since its founding 20 years ago and has developed a loyal following on Reddit and in other investor circles. Founder and CEO Peter Beck was a college dropout from New Zealand who had worked in a number of engineering companies. A brilliant autodidact, Beck actually taught himself how to formulate his own rocket fuel. Aspiring to work on space rockets, he moved to the USA with the aim of working with NASA, who rejected him outright over his lack of academic credentials.
In conjunction with investor Mark Rocket, Beck formed Rocket Lab, and designed the Electron rocket. The reusable Electron has since become the highest used small rocket in space history, with over 60 successful launches. Its track record as an orbital rocket is only surpassed by SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
Finding Ancillary Niches
Without the weight of an Elon Musk looming over its every move, Rocket Lab has the flexibility to collaborate with and build for rivals or other clients, including Space X itself, without the corresponding negative publicity fallout.
Perhaps Rocket Lab’s biggest advantage is that it lacks the public scrutiny and publicity of Elon Musk and SpaceX. For better or for worse, SpaceX bears the weight of Musk’s persona and public profile, which encompasses supporters and critics of Tesla, X, and DOGE.
Rocket Lab has been busy pouring its latest R&D dollars into its medium-lift Neutron project, expected to debut in 2025. The company has roughly $1 billion in backlogged contracts, both with government entities like the US Space Force, and with private corporate entities, such as Firefly Aerospace and its Blue Ghost moon project, Japan’s Institute for Q-Shu Pioneers in Space (iQPS) satellite launches, and spacecraft it built for Varda Space Industries.
The last is notable, as the Varda W-3, which Rocket Lab designed, was actually launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
This flexibility shows that Rocket Lab can quietly manufacture for its own launches as well as make satellites for others without any negative publicity, but certainly lucrative ancillary income streams. This is just one reason why Cathie Wood and other tech stock analysts are keeping an eye on Rocket Lab, and why its fans believe it will one day overtake SpaceX, much like how AMD finally overtook Intel.
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