[[Home|🏠]] <span style="color: LightSlateGray">></span> [[Interviews]] <span style="color: LightSlateGray">></span> January 21 2025 **Insider**: [[Peter Beck]] **Source**: [Leading Indicator](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvhF8tZitug) **Date**: January 21 2025  🔗 Backup Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvhF8tZitug ## 🎙️ Transcript >[!hint] Transcript may contain errors or inaccuracies. **Interviewer:** Hey everyone, joining me today for a really exciting interview I cannot wait to talk to this guy is Sir Peter Beck. Peter is the founder and CEO of Rocket Lab. Peter, it is really great to have you. Congrats on all the success and thanks for taking the time today. **Peter Beck:** Oh, my pleasure. ### Record Quarterly Revenue **Interviewer:** So let's talk about 2024, what a huge year it was for you and everyone over at Rocket Lab. 16 rocket launches if I'm not mistaken, a new record for the company. You're on track currently for record quarterly Revenue. The stock, for people who follow how it trades, up almost 400% in the last 52 weeks. Peter, that's a lot of enthusiasm. What do you attribute that enthusiasm to? **Peter Beck:** Yeah, well, thanks very much. Look, it's all about execution, right? As you mentioned, execution on launch but execution across our Space Systems and delivering quarter after quarter as we said we would. So yeah, look, I think it's down to execution. And I also think that there's a bunch of very high profile space companies in the world and we just quietly and methodically go about doing our thing. And the delta between those space companies is starting to shrink, so I think that starts to get recognized over a period of time. ### Rocket Lab as an End-to-End Space Company **Interviewer:** You call yourself an end-to-end space company. First, for people who have heard of Rocket Lab may not have had time to kind of look under the hood too much, what does that mean, Peter? And how is Rocket Lab positioned itself to be an even increasingly bigger player in the space economy? **Peter Beck:** Yeah, no, great question. So I think most space companies you can look across, and they're either a launch company - they operate a rocket - or they're a satellite company where they build satellites, or they're an operator where they operate satellites. And I think the thing that makes us unique is that we do all of those things. So we design and build rockets, we launch them, we design and build satellites, we launch them, and we also operate satellites. Typically, the industry is kind of siloed across those three segments. Well, a customer can come to us and say, "Actually, I want to do this thing in space," and we can design the satellite, build the satellite, launch the satellite, and operate the satellite. That's very unique in this industry. **Interviewer:** So when you talk about a customer - appropriately you and I are having this conversation today, at least when we're recording this, is Inauguration Day for Donald Trump's White House down in Washington. I'm sure you may have heard. I believe you've said before, Peter, your customer is about 50/50 - 50% government, 50% commercial. Are you bullish on what the Trump Administration means for Rocket Lab? And if so, why? **Peter Beck:** Yeah, I am actually, because for a couple of reasons. One, there is a clear focus on defense and a clear focus on efficiency and getting the most out of the taxpayer dollar for the nation. And on those two fronts, these are very important and strong areas for Rocket Lab. We are a fully commercial company. We don't do the traditional defense contracting Cost Plus kind of contracts. So for us, if the government wants high value for their taxpayer dollar and return on assets, that's where our sweet spot is, in our wheelhouse. So we think this new Administration will be very good for us. It'll be good for the space industry - it's very pro-space, very pro-defense, and these are two big sectors. ### Catalysts for 2025 **Interviewer:** What are the biggest catalysts and the potential landmines for 2025 for Rocket Lab? **Peter Beck:** Well, for us it's really the year of Neutron. So this year we're trying to get Neutron to the pad and launch successfully. That is consuming all the resources and all the mind share of everybody in the company right now. So that's probably the biggest project within the company. But in saying that, we have a number of major satellite deliveries for customers as well. The MDA Global Star satellites will be delivered this year - this is an internet, sorry, direct-to-mobile constellation - as well as a number of other projects. And we're looking to do new things and grow into new areas. But look, everything is dwarfed by the giant rocket on the pad, that's for sure. ### Neutron Launch **Interviewer:** When are you expecting the first launch for Neutron? It's been talked a lot about. Investors want to know. And how much of the success this year and into next year do you think hinges on Neutron compared to Electron or any of your previous launches? **Peter Beck:** Well, I mean, the important thing to remember is two-thirds of our revenue actually comes from Space Systems and not launch itself. Now, that starts to change a bit when Neutron comes online. But the business is tremendously underpinned by a lot of the space system stuff. We're looking to try and fly the Neutron vehicle by the middle of the year and get that first successful flight. And then the following year we'll do another three flights, and the following year another five. So that's kind of the walking into cadence that we're looking for. **Interviewer:** All right, middle of the year - we'll be watching it closely. ### Rocket Lab vs SpaceX **Interviewer:** There was a fascinating headline I saw this morning, this is just this morning, Peter. It's from The Motley Fool, and the headline says, "Rocket Lab just might be the first company, the first space company, to figure out how to compete with SpaceX on price." How'd you do that, Peter? **Peter Beck:** Well, look, I mean, we've always had to do that from day one. So this is not new news to us. We've always had to compete with SpaceX and others, quite frankly. And we are a fully commercially publicly traded company, so everything is laid bare to see. It's just been a standard part of our reality that our two biggest competitors are the two wealthiest people on this planet and have basically essentially infinite capital. So we can never outspend those guys. We have to find different ways, and typically that's through technology and innovation. And we've been able to compete very strongly to date. ### Trump and SpaceX **Interviewer:** You know, it's not only infinite capital, but there is a presumed kind of coziness between those two business leaders and the incoming president. Again, you and I are having this conversation - a short time ago the inauguration more or less wrapped up on Capitol Hill. Impossible not to notice that Elon Musk of SpaceX is a few feet away from the president, that Jeff Bezos of Blue Origin seated just a few feet away from the president. How do you view those relationships as potential headwinds, if at all, for competitors like Rocket Lab? **Peter Beck:** Look, I don't think really there can be any funny business there. Look, those relationships exist for a number of reasons, but when it comes to actually executing programs to the best efficiency of the taxpayer's dollar, ultimately there can't be any funny business there. And we don't expect there to be. So I think, you know, for other reasons that might be important. But as far as competitive landscape for us, we don't really think that's an issue. ### Market Share **Interviewer:** SpaceX had 138 launches last calendar year 2024, if I'm not mistaken. We mentioned you've had 16, but that's up significantly from where you were in previous years. The sort of pattern, the direction Rocket Lab is moving, is increasing quite a lot. How do you view the market share of SpaceX or even a Blue Origin relative to where Rocket Lab is today? **Peter Beck:** Well, I think there's a couple of important things there. Obviously, SpaceX have got a well, you know, a well-ahead start on us. And in a lot of respects, create a great bow wave that we tuck in behind, which is awesome. But if we actually look at the data, the first to 50 flights - the speed from zero to 50 flights - Rocket Lab is actually faster than SpaceX to get there. And we think if we continue on our current cadence with Electron, we'll be first to get to 100 flights. So we're certainly tucking in behind a great bow wave. But if you look at the data, we kind of do pretty well. So Neutron is obviously an important element for us, and the ramping of that flight cadence will be super important. But the one thing that is for sure, and the one thing that I don't worry about at night, is is there enough market share for all of us to go around? Launch is hugely constrained. So as new launch vehicles come onto market, the availability of customers and solving that launch crisis is something I don't worry about. ### Launch Sites **Interviewer:** Bit of a nerdy space question, if you don't mind. I've got lots of them. I'll try and limit them for the interview. **Peter Beck:** Please be nerdy. **Interviewer:** I know! So I want to ask about your launch sites. Correct me if I'm wrong - you got one in New Zealand, that's home for you. And you also got one in Virginia, you got one here in the states, right? **Peter Beck:** Correct. **Interviewer:** Which launches happen where and why? And I know a lot of space fans, they kind of gravitate to the history of Launchpad 39B Kennedy. Obviously, SpaceX is doing a lot of their launches there. Any interest in expanding those launch sites, I wonder? **Peter Beck:** Well, so I mean, right now we're pretty well served. So the New Zealand launch site is purely for Electron launch vehicles. Neutron will never launch down in New Zealand - there's just not enough scale down here to be able to support that. But the New Zealand launchpad, it's very unique in the fact that it's one of only two privately owned launch pads in the world. Obviously, SpaceX has got Boca Chica. We've had Mahia Peninsula now for many, many years. But it gives us the ability to launch out sun-synchronous and also mid-inclination out of the one site, which is unusual. If you're in the states, if you want to launch sun-synchronous, you have to go out of the West Coast. If you want to go in mid-inclination, you have to go out of the East Coast. And that's been part of the success of the Electron vehicle - just having that unfettered access to launch and launch sites. Then the one in Wallops - it was a big decision point for us. Do we go to the Cape or do we go to Wallops? But the Cape's a pretty busy place, and I'm a little bit impatient. I don't really want to have to get in line and wait for my launch slot. So going down the road a little bit to Wallops gave us the ability to have a tremendous amount of access to orbit without having to get in line behind the big boys. So that is a huge advantage for us down at that launch site. It's a few degrees inclination less than what you can get out of the Cape, but for the majority of flights, that really doesn't matter. But it does give us a completely empty launch site to walk onto. ### Being a Space Nerd **Interviewer:** Oh, that is fascinating perspective there. A lot of space fans, you know, you go to these places - Houston, wherever else, Johnson Space Center - and you just take in the history and you recognize why these places are important. It's awesome. And you sound like such a fan of the work, and I can tell that from your previous interviews and even as you tell here, right? Like, at the end of the day, you just got to be - and I say this with all due respect - you got to be like the biggest space nerd going, right? You got to love this stuff. And it sounds like you and your team really do, to be able to compete the way that you have. **Peter Beck:** Yeah, but there's one thing that trumps that, and that's a good business. And I think this is where Rocket Lab has been successful over others is that the space industry attracts a number of really passionate people. I mean, this is one of the hardest things you can do, so you've got to be incredibly passionate about it. But at the end of the day, for us, business comes first, and we make business decisions over kind of passionate, space geeky decisions every day. And the Wallops Island one was a great example. I mean, I walk around the Cape, and we had the opportunity to inhabit some amazing historic launch pads at the Cape. And yeah, sure, half my brain is like, "This is hallowed ground, this is the most amazing place to ever launch a rocket. Wouldn't it be cool to have a Rocket Lab logo here?" But the other half of me is like, "Well, no, this is not a good business decision." And that half will always win. **Interviewer:** That is fascinating context for someone in your position. So thanks for letting me ask that because we don't get to hear that perspective a lot of space fans. ### Artemis Missions **Interviewer:** I want to ask you about the Artemis missions now. You've already been involved in so far as the CAPSTONE kind of lunar satellite. I wonder what more Rocket Lab might be doing for future Artemis missions and any concerns about the delay schedule. That's a big thing for fans who follow this space closely here in the US. It's that we've got now Artemis 2 and Artemis 3, we keep kind of pushing those time horizons a little further and further out. And I wonder what that means for your company, if anything? **Peter Beck:** Well, I think it'll be interesting to watch what the new administration wants to do here. Because the Artemis program, while very successful in actually delivering what it needed to deliver for the first mission, I think there's going to be a little bit of a scratch on the chin and a ponder about, "Well, are we going to the Moon or are we going to Mars? And what does the future of human spaceflight look like to these far-off destinations?" So it would be interesting to see. I think that cake's not fully set yet. So it'll be interesting to see what the new administration's view is on Artemis and human spaceflight to these further destinations. ### Mars **Interviewer:** So to that point, Elon Musk, of course, has very famously said the idea of being a multiplanetary species is necessary to survive. We want to go to Mars. Do you agree with that? How possible is that? Or are you not too concerned with that type of conversation right now? **Peter Beck:** Well, look, I think it's good for humanity to put a footprint on Mars. Do I fully subscribe to the Plan B objective? Not so sure. But I think it's hugely inspiring, and lots of technology will be created that will benefit everybody down on Earth to put a footprint on Mars. So I think we should absolutely go and do that. But I think there's also a lot to learn throughout our solar system within the space science that can have a huge, huge benefit to humanity, including the first private exploration of Venus. ### Mission to Venus **Interviewer:** Peter, what a cool mission! What's the goal there? What should people who aren't familiar with those ambitions know about it? **Peter Beck:** Well, I think Venus is a little bit of an understudied planet in a lot of respects. And there is a certain altitude within the clouds of Venus where it's possible that some kind of life could exist. And our mission is to go and try and sample that cloud and almost think of it as a go/no-go gauge for life in that region. And I think that's important for a couple of reasons. One, if you look at the scientific evidence we have to date, we have discovered no other life outside Earth. So if you want to be scientific about it, the only statement that we can make today that's true is that we are the only life in the universe. Now, I'm not sure that that will be true, but until we get evidence to prove otherwise, that's kind of a scientific fact. If we could go to somewhere like Venus and actually find some form of life in the atmosphere, I think that says two things. It says firstly, we are not the only life in the universe, and I think that's profound. But also, if life can live in the clouds of Venus, then it's most likely prolific throughout the universe, which I think is another very profound thing. So for me personally, trying to answer some of those questions in my lifetime would be a wonderful thing to do. ### Are We Alone in the Universe? **Interviewer:** I don't know how often you had this asked - do you personally think we're alone in the universe? **Peter Beck:** No, I think statistically there's most likely other forms of life. Now, are they intelligent or otherwise? Who really knows. But at the end of the day, I'm an engineer and a scientist, so I have to take the scientific method. And if you follow that approach, we have, like I said, we have no evidence to prove otherwise right now, and we really need to find that evidence. ### Outro **Interviewer:** The observable universe is enormous, and it certainly sounds like Rocket Lab is up to the enormity of those tasks to helping us understand it all a little bit better. I'm really grateful to your time. I've loved this interview. I hope our listeners do too. That's Sir Peter Beck, he's the founder and CEO of Rocket Lab. Peter, thanks a lot for being here. **Peter Beck:** Thanks so much.