"Look, there's no accidental monopoly. They are a ruthless competitor." //

Most of our customers, you know, we still have new customers, but there's a tremendous amount of returning customers. And if you look at it from their point of view, even if someone turns up with a rocket that is half the price, really the reliability of Electron and the precision of it, it's hard for someone to move onto a new platform. Now, I don't I don't mean that to sound arrogant at all. It's just that price is not the number one thing. It's important, but it's just not the number one thing anymore. I mean, we're inserting to an accuracy of 400 meters at this point. So that's almost good enough to rendezvous straight off the rocket. //

We sold over 22 launches this year, and next year is looking even better. There is a definite demand that small launch has, and a capability that small launch gives. We have just so many customers now that absolutely rely on Electron. They've designed their constellation or their spacecraft around Electron. It does things that you just can't get on other missions. I think a lot of people compare Transporter (SpaceX's rideshare missions on the Falcon 9 rocket) to Electron and dedicated launch, and there is no comparison. Transporter can do it for free for all we care, because the customer who is coming to Electron really needs instantaneous launch, the right inclination or orbital plane. If we just stopped doing Electron, there would be a whole lot of people with nowhere to go. There's been a market built up around the product, and it continues to grow. //

TheWarOnSilence Seniorius Lurkius
9y
10
Subscriptor
I did enjoy this quote:

"We have a saying here at Rocket Lab that we have no money, so we have to think." It is, of course, the re-stating of another famous New Zealand knight of the realm, Sir Ernest Rutherford, who memorably said "We haven't got the money, so we'll have to think".

More than a hundred years after Rutherford made the statement in the context of nuclear physics, it's a delight to see that same drive and determination shine through at Rocket Lab.