Why Rocket Lab Rocketed on Monday

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) stock leapt 5.2% through 10:05 a.m. ET Monday morning, after the company conducted another successful space launch over the weekend.

On Saturday, Rocket Lab conducted its second launch for Japanese customer Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS), delivering the latter's QPS-SAR-9 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite to orbit atop an Electron rocket.

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One down, seven to go -- and maybe more

Saturday's launch was the first in a series of eight launches Rocket Lab has been contracted to run for iQPS. The next satellite goes up in May, and Rocket Lab will launch six times this year for iQPS, then twice more in 2026, to complete this launch series.

As I mentioned last week, the total value of the eight iQPS launches is probably in the neighborhood of $67 million at Rocket Lab's current average launch cost of $8.4 million, although Rocket Lab did not itself name a specific price. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, this would amount to about half the revenue Rocket Lab's launch services division collected in 2024.

And since iQPS intends to put a total of 36 SAR satellites in orbit, and Rocket Lab continues running successful missions for iQPS, it's logical to assume the customer will be sending even more revenue Rocket Lab's way in future years.

Rocket Lab's good "bad" news

Separately, Rocket Lab announced Saturday that a Pioneer spacecraft it built for Varda Space Industries, W-3, successfully deployed after launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Rocket Lab did not mention that the launch was conducted by its archrival in space, SpaceX, or using the rocket that poses the biggest threat to Rocket Lab's own business, a large Falcon 9 running a Transporter rideshare mission, that put 70 small satellites in orbit at once, rather than launching them one at a time, at higher cost, on Rocket Lab's own Electron rockets.

The mission does highlight the fact, though, that Rocket Lab has two big businesses: launching satellites, and also building satellites for other companies to launch. Rocket Lab makes money either way.

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Rich Smith has positions in Rocket Lab USA. The Motley Fool recommends Rocket Lab USA. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.