This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Sep 23 – Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) shares slipped about 3% even as the company delivered two spacecraft to NASA for its upcoming Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission.
The twin spacecraft, named Blue and Gold, arrived at Kennedy Space Center, where Rocket Lab engineers will handle inspections, functional testing, and final preparations before integration with the launch vehicle.
EscaPADE, led by NASA in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, will investigate Mars’ magnetosphere and atmospheric escape. The two spacecraft will orbit the planet in complementary elliptical paths, collecting plasma and magnetic field data to better understand how Mars lost much of its atmosphere.
Rocket Lab highlighted that it designed, built, integrated, and tested the spacecraft in just three and a half years, a brisk timeline for an interplanetary mission. The company pointed to its vertically integrated supply chain as key, noting that components such as solar arrays, star trackers, propellant tanks, and radios are manufactured in-house.
CEO Peter Beck framed the mission as a milestone, calling it a step toward more ambitious projects like a potential Mars Telecommunications Orbiter that could support future human exploration.
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