Rocket Lab secures U.S. Space Force contracts and Viasat partnership

Rocket Lab has secured involvement in two major U.S. Space Force initiatives aimed at enhancing space infrastructure and communications security.

The company has onboarded to the NITE-STAR (NSTTC Innovative Technology & Engineering – Space Test and Range) program. Managed by the Space Systems Command, this 10-year program has a contract ceiling of approximately $981 million. NITE-STAR is designed to develop a distributed test and training architecture to prepare space operators for contested scenarios and military operations in space.

Additionally, Viasat has selected Rocket Lab to build a satellite bus for the Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global (PTS-G) program. Under this partnership, Rocket Lab will provide its Lightning spacecraft platform to host Viasat’s dual-band payload. The project, known as Swarm 1, involves the manufacturing, integration, and launch of a small, maneuverable geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) satellite designed with enhanced anti-jam capabilities to provide resilient communications for national security missions.