Rocket Lab CEO Says It Could Be ‘Extremely Profitable’ Without Neutron — But SpaceX Is Not The Only Reason It’s Building The Rocket

• Beck said Rocket Lab would be “extremely profitable” without Neutron, with space systems generating 80% of quarterly sales.
• Neutron’s first 16 flights are booked, including eight worth roughly $515 million, with new slots available in the 2030s.
• With Neutron taking priority, Beck is putting his own time and money into a mission to search Venus’s clouds for signs of life.

Rocket Lab (RKLB) CEO Peter Beck said the company would be “extremely profitable” without Neutron, but he sees a reason to keep building it even if SpaceX wins on launch costs. Rocket Lab wants to fly its own satellites into a space services market he believes could reach $1 trillion.

RKLB stock jumped over 5% on Wednesday to $66.15, with shares tracking their best week in over three months. 

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Why Rocket Lab Wants Its Own Ride To Orbit

“It’s always about Neutron. And Neutron is the giant sucking sound of all cash and resources in the company,” Beck said in an interview with The Angry Astronaut. “But you minus Neutron out and this company is an extremely profitable, great company.” 

Rocket Lab already earns most of its revenue from building spacecraft and components. Its space systems business generated $214.8 million in the third quarter, about 80% of the company’s $267.8 million in sales. Rocket Lab posted a net loss of $79.7 million for the quarter. Research and development spending rose 39% from a  year ago to $98.4 million, partly due to Neutron. 

When asked how Neutron would compete if SpaceX makes Starship fully reusable, Beck raised a question about who would get to fly on it. He pointed to Falcon 9, where launch priorities can shift to accommodate SpaceX’s own missions.

“That also assumes that, that SpaceX make the Starship available for everybody else. And, you know, I’m sure Elon’s first priority is SpaceX and not everybody else,” Beck said.

Owning Neutron would give Rocket Lab control over when its own satellites fly. On Monday’s earnings call, Beck said customers would get most of the early flights as Rocket Lab fulfills its contracts. In the longer term, he expects to reserve about half of Neutron’s launch capacity for the company’s own missions.

“When I say 50% for us and 50% for everybody else, that is not out of the chute, obviously,” Beck said. “We will burn down a whole bunch of contracted launch, so that number will skew to our customers really heavily for quite some time.”

RKLB CEO Sees $1 Trillion Market Beyond Launch

Beck put the launch market at $10 billion to $20 billion. He sees a far bigger opportunity in the services Rocket Lab could sell once its satellites are in orbit. “The total addressable market in services from space is $350 billion going to $1 trillion,” he said in the interview.

Rocket Lab’s proposed $8 billion acquisition of Iridium Communications (IRDM) would give it an operating satellite network and an established customer base. On Monday’s earnings call, Beck said Neutron could eventually launch replacements for Iridium’s satellites. Iridium shareholders have approved the deal, which the companies expect to close in mid-2027.

When asked in the interview where Rocket Lab could be in five years, Beck said its ambitions extend beyond Iridium. The plan, dating back to when Rocket Lab went public, was to build spacecraft, launch them and ultimately sell services from orbit. “No, we’ll continue to keep growing into more and more space services and keep on adding more and more to the portfolio,” he said.

Neutron’s 2027 Debut Takes Priority Over Venus Mission 

Neutron’s first 16 flights are booked, and the next customer slots are in the 2030s, Beck told analysts Monday. Eight missions signed in the third quarter were worth $515 million, including several at a higher base price of $70 million per launch.

The debut slipped to 2027 after engineers found gaps in the forward dome of Neutron’s first-stage propellant tank. Rocket Lab has built a replacement, but the tank still needs assembly and testing. Beck said that the carbon-composite design should eventually make tanks lighter and cheaper to build. He expects the first flight to succeed, even if engineers need flight data to understand how well Neutron can be reused.

The push has left little time for a probe waiting in a Long Beach clean room. Beck wants to send it into the clouds of Venus to look for signs of life. With no clear financial return for shareholders, he is putting his own time and money into the mission.

“So and as I’m sure you can appreciate, Neutron is consuming any night and any weekend of any person in this company,” Beck said. “So it doesn’t get a lot of love, but, but it is a mission that’s dear to me.”

How Do Retail Traders Feel About RKLB?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for RKLB slipped to ‘bullish’ from ‘extremely bullish’ levels a day ago amid ‘high’ message volume.

One user said, “$RKLB buy the stock now get stuck in the 50 to $60 range until neutron shoots off which is anyone's guess, at least 6 months I would imagine.”

Another user said, “$RKLB yeah there's gonna be a crazy pre neutron run. That delay was a gift from impatients to patients.”

RKLB stock has declined 5% year-to-date.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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