https://x.com/RocketLab/status/2113008894536818740

We have completed breakover operations for the Neutron Stage 2 tank assembly, rotating the stage horizontal – a critical step in the handling of large rocket sections for integration and assembly.

Here’s a last look at Stage 2 on the Neutron Factory floor before it’s wrapped up (literally) for barge shipment to LC-3 on Wallops Island where its fluid systems will be tested and its Archimedes vacuum engine installed.

The issues with Neutron’s carbon-fiber structures are pretty well discussed right now, but Archimedes isn’t exactly looking mature either.

I made the post below seven months ago, and from the outside their engine program seems to have made remarkably little visible progress since then. Qualification still has no announced completion, and Rocket Lab has not announced completion or ATP of any flight engines. Those are major milestones, and I have a very hard time believing they would have been omitted from the latest Neutron update if Rocket Lab had achieved them.

It’s honestly difficult to tell where Archimedes actually is in the development/qualification program. Maybe they now have dedicated qual hardware on the stand and are well into the campaign. Maybe they’re closer than the public information makes it look. But after two years of calling qualification “underway,” we still don’t have the sort of concrete qual progress you’d expect this late in the program.

And qualification isn’t the end of the propulsion schedule. They still need to close qual, ATP the flight set, install the engines, integrate the stage, and then learn what the engines actually do as part of the vehicle.

Structural problems aside, I’d still bet Neutron is at least ~12 months from launch, with 12–18 months looking entirely reasonable.

My post from seven months ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketLab/comments/1s01swg/neutron_is_not_close_to_flying_18_months_would_be/

Hello all,

I have an interview for a fluid component role next week and was wondering if anybody has advice on how to prep / what to expect. It says it will be a 45min discussion about my resume, which is what SpaceX said but then it turned out to only be technical lmao.

I’m not sure if they said that just to appease shareholders, given that they once again failed to meet the deadlines they themselves had set.

Based on what they’ve reported, they expect the tank to be qualified by Q1 2027. This means that, during that first quarter, the tank must undergo hydrostatic and cryogenic testing.

Archimedes is another key component that has yet to be certified.

When Rocket Lab mentioned that they were building flight hardware in parallel for other rockets, keep one simple thing in mind: the Stage 1 booster and the Archimedes engine are not on that list. They must first be qualified before they can be classified as "flight hardware" and enter production.

To save time, they plan to work on several Stage 1 units in parallel though it’s important not to confuse development hardware with qualified flight hardware. This approach ensures that if they lose the first tank during hydrostatic or cryogenic testing, they won’t repeat the mistake they made previously, when they lost a tank supplied by a contractor and had no backup available to continue testing.

They will also need to repeat the "test-to-failure" procedure, as this tank was built using their own AFP (Automated Fiber Placement) machine; they need to verify that they achieve the same or better data.

As for Archimedes, while we don’t have an exact count of how many engines they’ve blown up, they will continue building development engines and subjecting them to rigorous testing. Once these are qualified, they will begin mass-producing the flight-ready versions.

Other components that are already qualified can, however, move straight into production.

Once everything is fully qualified, they can transport the hardware to the launch site to conduct static fires for both stages, as well as full-scale rocket integration testing. The wet dress rehearsal is the signal that the rocket is ready to fly; it simulates a launch by filling the tanks with propellant and verifying that all ground systems are functioning correctly. If nothing anomalous occurs, there is no need to return to the integration facility; they simply await regulatory approval, and then the baby is ready for its debut and its attempt to reach orbit.

I just saw an ad from RocketLabs on reddit for open engineering jobs.

https://www.reddit.com/u/ItsActuallyRocketLab/s/NWwJif9x3k

The base+compensation on most of these jobs are around 100k. And the Senior Engineers are mostly under 200k.

These are people who have aerospace engineering degrees, with experience.

How can they attract talent at these salaries? If these people have student loans, it's barely a livable wage in some of the cities.

I know there are probably a ton of existing employees who are multi-millionaires from the options and IPO. But these new hires no longer have the upside of the stock options, or the handcuffs..

What am I missing?

When do the co-op interviews start if we applied a couple weeks ago for summer 2027

Someone with launch-site experience recently mentioned something I hadn’t really considered.

Even when a launch company manufactures a lot in-house, once the vehicle is at a launch site far from the main factory, waiting for every bracket, mount, fixture, or replacement component to ship from home isn’t always practical.

For people familiar with launch operations, what kinds of quick-turn hardware usually make sense to source from local machine/fab shops?

GSE parts? Brackets? Tooling? Fixtures? Modifications?

I work with a small CNC shop, so I’m interested in understanding that side of the industry better.

Do we think Neutron successfully launches by end of 2026 or does it happen in 2027? Not sure what to make of the company talking about getting it to the pad in Q4. Seems different from launching?

Judging by the dates in the press release and the timing of the latest Electron launch, I think we can assume this was the confidential payload.

With Neutron hardware moving through production, assembly, and testing, I’m curious how the supplier side changes at this stage of a launch vehicle program.

I work with a small CNC manufacturing company, and I’m trying to understand what companies like Rocket Lab typically keep in-house versus outsource.

Is it usually prototype parts, overflow capacity, fixtures/tooling, quick engineering changes, or certain production components?

Would be interested to hear from anyone familiar with aerospace manufacturing.