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Is launch the only moat for a rocket company? Rocket Lab & SpaceX both revealed that once you master launch, that’s just the start. For global domination, Rocket Lab multiplied their business by also manufacturing components for the entire industry.. "People focus on the rocket because it's the big firework in the sky & everyone gets emotional, & it's very cool. It's hard to get emotional about a reaction wheel, or a star tracker, or a little component that goes into a spacecraft." "The…
Molly O’Shea@MollySOSheaAug 26
BREAKING: Inside Rocket Lab ( $RKLB ) HQ Tour in Long Beach, CA w/ Sir Peter Beck FACTORY TOUR (Part II) Rocket Lab reached space in 2009 on ~$60,000 in total capitalization, using fittings pulled out of a junkyard. "From that adversity, comes good ideas" Electron reached orbit in 2017 on <$100M w/ 80 people. Meanwhile, their nearest competitor, billionaire-founded Virgin Orbit, burned $1.2B & went bankrupt. @RocketLab now runs 13 acres of factory across 9 locations, globally. But before any of that, with dream of reaching space, @Peter_J_Beck applied to NASA: "I was objectively too dumb & also a foreign national. So foreign national, no degree, it wasn't looking good." NASA turned him down. He ended up launching their payloads instead, including CAPSTONE to the Moon, NASA's lunar pathfinder for Artemis, which operated out of the mission control room we walked through. We cover: › The $3.20 ferrules that got Rocket Lab to space › Why $100M & 80 people beat $1.2B at Virgin Orbit › Going public as a succession plan, not a financing event › Why a reaction wheel is a moat › The reality of buying companies Plus: the 2001 lobby, his take on "number eight wire," the CAPSTONE spare that stayed home, 12-year missions that cannot fail, & where new space entrants actually die. Check out the rest of the series: › Part I: Full sit-down interview w/ Peter Beck › Part II: Tour 01 - *This episode* › Part III: Tour 02 - Engine Development Center (Friday) 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Touring inside Rocket Lab HQ (01:44) The origin story (05:45) What "Number Eight Wire" actually means (07:14) Too much Capital can kill a startup (09:03) Why Rocket Lab decided to go public (10:45) From Rockets to an entire Space Ecosystem (15:11) Where Escapade & CAPSTONE were flown (16:44) Inside the satellite build floor (17:15) In search for life on Venus (18:08) Inside the Electric Propulsion Lab (19:58) Inside the Thermal & Shock Testing Facility (20:47) How big is this facility? (21:45) Inside the NASA LOxSAT project (23:06) Why so many Space startups fail (24:00) Up Next: Inside the Engine Lab
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