33 ms·

RocketLab gains spectrum + profitable satellite company

espadrine 3mo ago
Iridum gains 23 launches per year with 100% success rate in the past 12 months, a satellite manufacturing pipeline with 6 satellites produced and launched, and a cost-to-orbit of $25K/kg operational (with an in-development design targetting $4K/kg). They are late compared to SpaceX, to be sure: 150 launches per year, 2400 satellites manufactured per year, $3K/kg operational with F9, target $200/kg in development with Starship.
- panick21_ 3mo ago
  You act as if 'launch' is a thing. All Rocket Lab launches ever combined don't even fill a single SpaceX rocket. Those are not the same thing. Lets see their reliability when they have a bigger rocket and if they can land reliably. Because their rocket will be quite expensive to build.
  - schainks 3mo ago
    I think that’s the point of their niche right? They are already plenty reliable. Also let’s them do stuff like this: https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/victus-haze/ https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/victus-haze/
  - hgoel 3mo ago
    We know from the graveyard of companies that reached orbit with their small rockets and ran out of funding before they got to be reliable, that reliably flying even a small rocket is pretty good.
    - panick21_ 3mo ago
      I didn't say it wasn't good.
  - kjs3 3mo ago
    Gulfstreams don't actually 'fly' because Boeing built the 747. Sure.
Symmetry 3mo ago
The spectrum is the big thing. If they wanted a revenue stream they could just buy bonds.
NetMageSCW 3mo ago
A profitable satellite company with a lot of debt and satellites that target the previous model of bespoke terminals when the market is moving to satellite service on regular phones.
- hobonation 3mo ago
  Iridium terminals can be very power-efficient. Consumer ones are the size of a deck of cards and can last for days.
  - Scoundreller 3mo ago
    I wonder how much of the power-efficiency is due to being much slower. Don’t need to blast and beam-steer if you can deal with poor SNR by taking your time to differentiate the 0s and 1s? Which is more power efficient per megabyte? (But I get it: sometimes a few bits is all you need)
    - lxgr 3mo ago
      All of it. You can't really get around physics. Iridium has historically targeted low-power, omnidirectional terminals (antennas can be larger at lower frequencies without requiring steering than at higher frequencies). They recently had some forays into steered, high-bandwidth antennas with their Certus line and their second-generation satellites that now allow native packet switching (the first gen was circuit-switched at 2.4 kbps only), but that brings you into the bandwidth-limited regime, and is honestly just a waste of scarce L-band spectrum and much better served by all the Ku- and Ka-band LEO competitors. It's going to be interesting to see if Rocketlab start also serving that market, like some of their main competitors already are.
      - labcomputer 3mo ago
        > (antennas can be larger at lower frequencies without requiring steering than at higher frequencies). No. 1. Iridium uses frequencies fairly close to GPS (~1.6GHz). 2. Iridium uses cylindrically-polarized transmissions (like GPS), which enable compact omnidirectional helical antennas > They recently had some forays into steered, high-bandwidth antennas with their Certus line and their second-generation satellites that now allow native packet switching (the first gen was circuit-switched at 2.4 kbps only), but that brings you into the bandwidth-limited regime, This is AI slop? No, the point of using an electrically-steered beam antenna is that it improves SNR, so that you are not bandwidth limited.
wongarsu 3mo ago
And access to a customer base. A lot easier to sell them new services if they already have a big contract with you
davidpapermill 3mo ago
> Rocket Lab has secured commitments for a $3.6 billion bridge loan from Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo to fund the cash portion of the acquisition. Given the timing, this seems like a risky move as they'll be issuing debt in mid-2027 to refinance the bridge, at a time the market could be saturated / corrected. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/rocket-lab-buy-satellite-communications-firm-iridium-8-billion-deal-2026-06-29/ https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/rocket-lab-bu...

Iridum gains 23 launches per year with 100% success rate in the past 12 months, a satellite manufacturing pipeline with 6 satellites produced and launched, and a cost-to-orbit of $25K/kg operational (with an in-development design targetting $4K/kg). They are late compared to SpaceX, to be sure: 150 launches per year, 2400 satellites manufactured per year, $3K/kg operational with F9, target $200/kg in development with Starship.

panick21_ 3mo ago
You act as if 'launch' is a thing. All Rocket Lab launches ever combined don't even fill a single SpaceX rocket. Those are not the same thing. Lets see their reliability when they have a bigger rocket and if they can land reliably. Because their rocket will be quite expensive to build.
- schainks 3mo ago
  I think that’s the point of their niche right? They are already plenty reliable. Also let’s them do stuff like this: https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/victus-haze/ https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/victus-haze/
- hgoel 3mo ago
  We know from the graveyard of companies that reached orbit with their small rockets and ran out of funding before they got to be reliable, that reliably flying even a small rocket is pretty good.
  - panick21_ 3mo ago
    I didn't say it wasn't good.
- kjs3 3mo ago
  Gulfstreams don't actually 'fly' because Boeing built the 747. Sure.

Symmetry 3mo ago

The spectrum is the big thing. If they wanted a revenue stream they could just buy bonds.

NetMageSCW 3mo ago

A profitable satellite company with a lot of debt and satellites that target the previous model of bespoke terminals when the market is moving to satellite service on regular phones.

hobonation 3mo ago
Iridium terminals can be very power-efficient. Consumer ones are the size of a deck of cards and can last for days.
- Scoundreller 3mo ago
  I wonder how much of the power-efficiency is due to being much slower. Don’t need to blast and beam-steer if you can deal with poor SNR by taking your time to differentiate the 0s and 1s? Which is more power efficient per megabyte? (But I get it: sometimes a few bits is all you need)
  - lxgr 3mo ago
    All of it. You can't really get around physics. Iridium has historically targeted low-power, omnidirectional terminals (antennas can be larger at lower frequencies without requiring steering than at higher frequencies). They recently had some forays into steered, high-bandwidth antennas with their Certus line and their second-generation satellites that now allow native packet switching (the first gen was circuit-switched at 2.4 kbps only), but that brings you into the bandwidth-limited regime, and is honestly just a waste of scarce L-band spectrum and much better served by all the Ku- and Ka-band LEO competitors. It's going to be interesting to see if Rocketlab start also serving that market, like some of their main competitors already are.
    - labcomputer 3mo ago
      > (antennas can be larger at lower frequencies without requiring steering than at higher frequencies). No. 1. Iridium uses frequencies fairly close to GPS (~1.6GHz). 2. Iridium uses cylindrically-polarized transmissions (like GPS), which enable compact omnidirectional helical antennas > They recently had some forays into steered, high-bandwidth antennas with their Certus line and their second-generation satellites that now allow native packet switching (the first gen was circuit-switched at 2.4 kbps only), but that brings you into the bandwidth-limited regime, This is AI slop? No, the point of using an electrically-steered beam antenna is that it improves SNR, so that you are not bandwidth limited.

wongarsu 3mo ago

And access to a customer base. A lot easier to sell them new services if they already have a big contract with you

davidpapermill 3mo ago

> Rocket Lab has secured commitments for a $3.6 billion bridge loan from Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo to fund the cash portion of the acquisition. Given the timing, this seems like a risky move as they'll be issuing debt in mid-2027 to refinance the bridge, at a time the market could be saturated / corrected. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/rocket-lab-buy-satellite-communications-firm-iridium-8-billion-deal-2026-06-29/ https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/rocket-lab-bu...