About this episode

Sir Peter Beck provides a behind-the-scenes look at Rocket Lab's Engine Development Center and discusses the technology behind their rockets.

Tour 02: We’re back inside Rocket Lab with Founder & CEO Sir Peter Beck, this time for a behind-the-scenes tour of the company’s Engine Development Center and the technology powering Electron and its next-generation Neutron rocket. Peter walks us through Rocket Lab’s additive manufacturing operation, where the vast majority of its engines by mass are 3D printed, and breaks down the engineering behind Rutherford and the much larger Archimedes engine being built for Neutron. We see Archimedes thrust chambers, turbopumps, 12-laser metal 3D printers, the Rutherford engines powering Electron, and an Archimedes production line capable of producing an engine every eight days. Peter explains why Rocket Lab chose methane for Neutron, how designing for reusability changes almost every engineering decision, why an Archimedes engine must survive 40 starts and one hour of qualification burn time, and Rocket Lab’s goal of building a rocket that can come off the barge, go straight back onto the pad, and launch again. We also get into how Rocket Lab acquired more than $100 million of Virgin Orbit assets for $16 million, why Peter thinks some “zombie” space companies refuse to die, the…

People in this episode

Guest: Sir Peter Beck

Topics covered

• rocket engineering
• 3D printing
• space industry
• additive manufacturing
• vertical integration
• reusability
• investment in space

Keywords

• Rocket Lab
• Neutron
• Electron
• 3D printing
• space technology
• additive manufacturing
• Archimedes engine
• investment
• vertical integration
• reusability

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Rocket Lab, Virgin Orbit

Products: Neutron, Electron, Rutherford, Archimedes

Places: Engine Development Center

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