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Rocket Lab’s NASA Moon launch to kick off new era of ultra-cheap deep space exploration

Photon separates from Electron's second stage and begins burning to escape Earth's gravity well. (Rocket Lab)

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5 years ago

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Rocket Lab will soon take its tiny Electron rocket further than any similarly-sized vehicle before it, sending a NASA satellite to the Moon and potentially kicking off a new era of unprecedentedly cheap space exploration.

On February 14th, the world-leading small satellite launch company announced – alongside NASA – that the space agency had awarded it a $9.95 million launch contract worth $9.95 million to send the $13.7 million Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) CubeSat to lunar orbit. In other words, NASA has contracted a full-up scientific mission to the Moon for less than $25M total – almost unfathomably cheap compared to all interplanetary exploration performed in the last half-century.

The mission announcement comes just four months after Rocket Lab announced at the International Astronautical Congress in Washington D.C., that it would utilize its small two-stage rocket, Electron, and proprietary satellite bus platform, Photon, to support lunar orbit missions. It also occurs just two months after the official opening of Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2 located in Wallops, Virginia – a dedicated facility to specifically service NASA and the US government launch contracts.

According to Ana Rivera, LSP program integration manager for CAPSTONE, the launch will be Rocket Lab’s “inaugural NASA launch from their new launch site at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia” and is expected to occur in the early part of 2021.

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With a small extra fuel tank attached to its nose, Photon burns its small engine to send CAPSTONE on its way to the Moon. (Rocket Lab)

NASA’s CAPSTONE is a tiny spacecraft weighing around 55 lb (25 kg) – small enough for an equally tiny rocket to send it on an improbable journey. Rocket Lab’s two-stage Electron rocket will begin by launching CAPSTONE to LEO, where NASA says Photon – a Rocket Lab-built kick stage and satellite bus – will send CAPSTONE on its way to the Moon. CAPSTONE will then use its own propulsion system to enter a “Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit” (NRHO) around the Moon.

It is important to note that, under its own propulsion, CAPSTONE is expected to take nearly three months to reach its intended orbit around the moon. However, the CAPSTONE mission is an imperative one that could lead to better understandings about the journey to the moon and “can reduce navigation uncertainties ahead of our future missions using the same lunar orbit” according to Marshall Smith, director of human lunar exploration programs at NASA Headquarters.

https://twitter.com/RocketLab/status/1186725033344983040

Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck stated that Rocket Lab is “able to provide NASA with complete control over every aspect of launch and mission design for CAPSTONE, something typically only available to much larger spacecraft on larger launch vehicles. In the same way (Rocket Lab) opened access to low Earth orbit for small satellites, we’re proud to be bringing the Moon within reach to enable research and exploration.”

Photon – the all-in-one experience

Photon is a satellite bus platform designed with interplanetary delivery and deep space communication in mind. The small, but mighty, launch-to-orbit bus features downlink communication capability, radiation-tolerant avionics, and higher power generation. Photon is also able to precisely deploy multiple small payloads into various orbits enabling multiple mission launches supported by Rocket Lab’s proprietary Curie propulsion system.

In the era of NASA’s Artemis initiative to return astronauts to the moon, Beck explains that “small satellites will play a crucial role in science and exploration, as well as providing communications and navigation infrastructure to support returning humans to the Moon.” In this sense, small satellites will serve as pathfinders and build the necessary infrastructure prior to the arrival of more robust hardware such as NASA’s lunar spaceship Gateway and eventually human space travelers.

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The Rocket Lab in-house designed and manufactured a small satellite platform – Photon. (Rocket Lab)

To date, Rocket Lab has successfully launched 11 missions and 48 satellites to low-Earth orbit. Eventually, Rocket Lab intends to use a recoverable and reusable Electron to loft Photon on interplanetary missions to lunar fly-by orbits, Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO), and low-Lunar Orbit by the end of 2020. The two most recent missions – Running Out Of Fingers and Birds of a Feather – featured an upgraded first-stage of Electron that survived re-entry in one piece. This will hopefully lead to a fully recoverable first-stage rivaling the current recovery efforts of SpaceX with its first stage of the Falcon 9 boosters.

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Tesla could face emissions credit tax in Washington

Tesla could be subject to a tax on its emissions credit sales in Washington, just ahead of the beginning of the state’s phase-out of gas vehicles.

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5 hours ago

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April 21, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla could face a new tax on the emissions credits it sells to other automakers, as introduced this month by legislators in the state of Washington.

As detailed in an op-ed from the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Democrats in Olympia have filed two companion bills proposing a 10 percent tax on the electric vehicle (EV) emissions credits Tesla sells, valued at roughly $1.79 billion globally last year. The emission credits market was created out of regulations requiring automakers to start phasing out gas vehicles, allowing Tesla, which only makes EVs, to sell the credits to gas automakers which aren’t able to meet the upcoming phase-out goals.

“The creation of these tradeable and bankable credits creates the opportunity for a financial windfall accruing to firms that are not burdened by the legacy production of internal combustion engine vehicle,” legislators wrote in the proposal. “It is the intent of the legislature to address this unintended outcome by taxing the windfall profits.”

Olympia Republicans went on to file a counter to the bill, which would effectively prohibit such a tax as well as “any other tax that applies to only one individual, business, or entity.”

READ MORE ON TESLA EMISSIONS CREDITS: Tesla to help automakers comply with the EU’s 2025 CO2 emission rules

Washington joined California in 2020 in setting regulations to phase out gas vehicles by 2035, requiring a maximum of 20 percent plugin hybrid vehicles sold in the year along with making 80 percent of the year’s sales fully electric. The initial phase-out regulations kick off in 2026, requiring automakers to make 35 percent of their new vehicles fully electric or plugin hybrids, before that level increases to 51 percent in 2028, and 68 percent in 2030.

Tesla’s vehicle sales in Washington made up just 10 percent of those sold in the state last year, while the company has about 54 percent of all emissions credits in the state, according to the Washington Policy Center.

The Wall Street Journal editorial calls the new proposals “abusive lawmaking,” saying that targeting a single company would be strongly opposed by progressives if it were suggested by the Trump administration. Additionally, the op-ed highlights that Tesla and CEO Elon Musk set the price for the emissions credits, meaning that they could simply charge automakers more for them to make up for money lost on the tax.

U.S. Supreme Court to hear challenge on California emission rule waiver

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Tesla’s Hollywood Diner is finally getting close to opening

Tesla’s construction of the Southern California diner, drive-in, and Supercharger hasn’t exactly been quick, but it appears to be getting close to opening.

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8 hours ago

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April 21, 2025

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Credit: HowardModels | Twitter

Tesla looks to be getting closer to opening its highly anticipated diner, drive-in movie theater, and Supercharger location in Southern California, after the company began construction on the project in the latter part of 2023.

On Sunday, X user BLKMDL3 stopped by the Hollywood Tesla Diner location and shared photos of the site, noting that Superchargers are now lit up, parking lots are fully paved, and construction generally appears to be nearing completion. The news comes after Tesla has been building out the site for around 18 months, which many have pointed out is longer than some of the company’s latest production facilities have taken.

Tesla has yet to disclose when it plans to open the Supercharger location, though it appears to be getting closer than ever, at least as far as construction is concerned. The company also included some code related to integration with the diner in its latest version of the Tesla mobile app in January, along with posting its first job listings for the site in August.

You can see the latest progress on the Tesla Diner below, courtesy of X user BLKMDL3.

Credit: BLKMDL3 | X

Credit: BLKMDL3 | X

Credit: BLKMDL3 | X

READ MORE ON TESLA SUPERCHARGERS: Tesla is building a new UFO-inspired Supercharger in the heart of Alien country

The user also notes that the adjacent parking lot is being built out to include additional Supercharger stalls, with the actual lots for the diner including around 28 to 32 stalls total, consistent with permits for the project. Next door, the user says the company is building roughly an additional 50 or so stalls, though these aren’t likely to be open when the diner initially opens.

The site is located at 7001 West Santa Monica Boulevard, and according to Elon Musk’s original concepts for the Supercharger discussed on what was then Twitter in 2018, the unique charger is set to include a 1950s-style diner with rock and roll and waiters on roller skates, in addition to drive-in theater screens playing scenes from the best movies in history.

Tesla gained a series of construction permits for the project throughout 2023, before officially beginning construction in September 2023. You can see photos from the site below, taken just weeks after groundbreaking, as well as in January and April of last year.

Tesla’s LA Diner and Supercharger in November 2023

Credit: Ed Howard | X

Tesla’s LA Diner and Supercharger in January 2024

Credit: Fox 11 Los Angeles

Credit: ShorealoneFilms | X

Tesla’s LA Diner and Supercharger in April 2024

Credit: 247Tesla | YouTube

Credit: 247Tesla | YouTube

Tesla exec highlights advantages of prefabricated Superchargers

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Tesla building apparent Cybercab castings ahead of launch

Tesla has been producing what look like some Cybercab castings at Giga Texas, as spotted this week ahead of the vehicle’s upcoming launch.

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9 hours ago

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April 21, 2025

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Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas is building what appear to be castings for the upcoming Cybercab, ahead of the vehicle’s launch and the highly anticipated debut of Unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).

On Monday, Tesla Giga Texas site observer Joe Tegtmeyer shared photos on X of some unique castings out beside the factory. Notably, Tegtmeyer points out that the castings are quite different from those of the Model Y and Cybertruck, which are currently the only two vehicles being produced at the Austin, Texas plant—at least publicly.

Some viewers noted that the castings appear to have a similar shape to the Cybercab, along with being one single casting, compared to the two-piece Giga casts the factory produces for the Model Y and Cybertruck. The shape appears to be consistent with Tesla’s unboxed production process, which is expected to build single-piece castings and will be used for the upcoming Cybercab.

You can see Tegtmeyer’s photos of the castings below, in comparison with the Cybercab body and castings for the Model Y and Cybertruck.

Giga Texas castings April 21, 2025, compared to Cybercab

Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

Giga Texas Model Y rear casting

Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

Giga Texas Cybertruck castings

Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

READ MORE ON TESLA’S GIGA TEXAS: Tesla Cybercab no longer using chase vehicles in Giga Texas

In March, Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy confirmed in an interview with manufacturing expert Sandy Munro that Cybercab production would be starting prototype builds this summer, while the automaker is aiming to ramp for volume production in 2026.

While it isn’t summer yet, executives also confirmed in January that Cybercab production lines were already being prepared at Giga Texas, so it’s not unlikely that these castings are some of the upcoming vehicle’s first prototype builds.

The unboxed production process is also expected to revolutionize the automotive manufacturing industry, with CEO Elon Musk emphasizing how different the production line looks compared to its past vehicles during the Q1 2025 All-Hands meeting. Instead, Musk says the production line appears more like a high-speed consumer electronics line, and it’s expected to push Cybercab builds out in less than five seconds.

In a post on X earlier this month, Musk also reiterated that the Cybercab production line and the factory in general are essentially the products on their own, rather than just the cars themselves.

“The Tesla factory, especially our next gen Cybercab line, is the product,” Musk said. “That, autonomy and Optimus, are what matter.”

Tesla is also aiming to launch its first commercial robotaxi services around Austin, Texas this summer, along with launching its first iterations of Full Self-Driving (FSD) Unsupervised. The company is also holding its Q1 earnings call on Tuesday, during which executives are expected to address questions about the Cybercab and the upcoming commercial robotaxi service.

Tesla’s Giga Texas vehicles now drive themselves to outbound lot

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