The Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) stock price crashed 26.2% after announcing that it suffered an anomaly during the launch of an Earth-observation satellite earlier today. The company noted that an Electron rocket carrying a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft for the California company Capella Space lifted off from its New Zealand site at 2:55 a.m. EDT.
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The rocket lifted off the ground successfully but terminated its flight 2 and a half minutes after something went wrong. According to the launch’s telemetry data released during the flight, it was evident that the velocity of the rocket's upper stage decreased shortly after its single Rutherford engine was supposed to kick on.
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Speculation about the anomaly and termination of the launch could be that the upper-stage engine may have suffered an ignition failure or a premature shutdown, though that's speculation. Rocket Lab did not identify a proximate or ultimate cause but promised to provide more information as soon as it is available.
The company also postponed its next mission, scheduled for the end of Q3 2023, as it seeks to identify the reasons for today’s failure and implement corrective actions. The company also promised to issue revised revenue guidance for Q3 due to the failure.
As an investor, I can assume that Rocket Lab will not be paid for the mission since it was a failure, and it will record a loss for the rocket, which was not recovered. Hence, these two factors will likely significantly impact its top and bottom lines.
Today’s mission, known as “We Will Never Desert You,” was the company’s ninth of the year and 41st overall. The anomaly broke a winning streak of 19 consecutive successful launches; the company's last failure was in May 2021.
The primary objective for “We Will Never Desert You” was to deliver one of Capella Space's “Acadia” satellites to a circular orbit about 395 miles up (635 kilometres) above Earth. Today’s flight was the second of a four-launch contract to deliver the advanced SAR satellites into orbit.
The first mission under the above contract was August 23rd’s “We Love the Nightlife,” which featured an Electron rocket with one used first-stage engine.
Rocket Lab (RKLB) stock price.
The Rocket Lab (RKLB) stock price was trading down 26.19% at $3.72 from Monday’s closing price of $5.04.
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