Elon Musk may soon face a formidable challenger in the space industry. Peter Beck, the CEO of Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB), is preparing to launch a new, larger rocket that could rival Musk's SpaceX and potentially disrupt the billionaire's space dominance.
What Happened: In a recent conversation with Business Insider, Beck revealed his plans to launch a new, larger rocket, named Neutron, in mid-2025. The Neutron is expected to be a direct competitor to SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, offering partially reusable transportation of cargo into orbit at a fraction of the cost of traditional rockets.
"Neutron is really important for two reasons. One, we need to bring some balance to the market with the Falcon 9, but we also need a vehicle of our own to launch our own satellites and put our own stuff in orbit," Beck said.
Despite SpaceX's current dominance in the space industry, Beck believes that offering businesses a rocket that can compete with the Falcon 9 will provide valuable choices, especially for companies building rivals to SpaceX's satellite internet service, Starlink.
The New Zealand native did not attend college and worked at a dishwasher manufacturer before founding Rocket Lab, which now boasts a market capitalization of $3.5 billion. Beck, who experimented with rockets and jet engines in his spare time, has transformed Rocket Lab into one of the world's leading space companies, second only to SpaceX in the number of commercial rocket launches.
The company's Electron rocket celebrated its 50th launch earlier this year, and the larger Neutron rocket is expected to launch in mid-2025.
Why It Matters: Musk's SpaceX has been making significant strides in the space industry, with plans to ramp up operations and execute missions every two days in 2025. Musk has also been vocal about his intention to colonize Mars using SpaceX's newest giant rocket, Starship.
This came after Musk took a dig at Boeing, saying aircraft companies would not dominate the space industry, similar to how car makers cannot dominate the aircraft business.
Musk was referring to aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which also makes space systems. NASA announced on Saturday that it would return the two astronauts who went to space via Boeing's Starliner spacecraft – Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore – via a SpaceX vehicle in February.
Williams and Wilmore launched into space on June 5 aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. Though the two were supposed to return in about eight days, technical issues identified with the spacecraft while docking delayed the return journey, and now the agency has decided to scrap bringing the astronauts back on the Boeing spacecraft altogether.
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Photo courtesy: Rocket Lab
This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
埃隆·馬斯克可能很快就會面臨航天工業的巨大挑戰者。美國火箭實驗室公司（納斯達克股票代碼：RKLB）首席執行官彼得·貝克正準備發射一枚新的更大的火箭，該火箭可能與馬斯克的SpaceX相媲美，並有可能破壞這位億萬富翁的太空統治地位。
發生了什麼：在最近與《商業內幕》的一次對話中，貝克透露了他計劃在2025年中期發射一枚名爲Neutron的新型更大的火箭。預計中子將成爲SpaceX獵鷹9號火箭的直接競爭對手，提供可部分重複使用的向軌道運輸貨物，而成本僅爲傳統火箭的一小部分。
「中子真的很重要，原因有兩個。第一，我們需要使用獵鷹9號爲市場帶來一定的平衡，但我們也需要一輛自己的飛行器來發射自己的衛星，並將自己的衛星送入軌道，」 貝克說。
儘管SpaceX目前在航天工業中佔據主導地位，但貝克認爲，向企業提供可以與獵鷹9號競爭的火箭將提供寶貴的選擇，特別是對於與SpaceX的衛星互聯網服務Starlink建立競爭對手的公司而言。
這位新西蘭本地人沒有上過大學，在創立Rocket Lab之前曾在一家洗碗機制造商工作，該實驗室現在的市值爲35億美元。貝克在業餘時間嘗試過火箭和噴氣發動機，他已將火箭實驗室轉變爲世界領先的太空公司之一，在商用火箭發射數量上僅次於SpaceX。
該公司的電子火箭在今年早些時候慶祝了其第50次發射，更大的中子火箭預計將於2025年中期發射。
爲何重要：馬斯克的SpaceX在航天工業中取得了長足的進步，計劃在2025年加大運營力度，每兩天執行一次任務。馬斯克還大聲疾呼他打算使用SpaceX最新的巨型火箭星際飛船殖民火星。
在此之前，馬斯克對波音進行了深入研究，稱飛機公司不會主導航天業，就像汽車製造商無法主導飛機業務一樣。
馬斯克指的是飛機制造商波音，該公司也生產太空系統。美國宇航局週六宣佈，它將在二月份通過SpaceX飛行器遣返通過波音Starliner航天器進入太空的兩名宇航員——蘇尼塔·威廉姆斯和布奇·威爾莫爾。
威廉姆斯和威爾摩於6月5日乘坐波音的Starliner飛船發射到太空。儘管兩人本應在大約八天後返回，但停靠時發現的航天器技術問題推遲了返回旅程，現在該機構已決定完全取消將宇航員帶回波音飛船的行程。
