Rocket Lab’s Biggest Breakthrough Has Nothing to Do With Neutron

For a while now, the biggest debate around Rocket Lab (RKLB) has been about when its new Neutron rocket will finally fly. The bull case, though, was that the company was much broader than that. They argued that Rocket Lab had quietly become a full-stack company, one that earns across launch, satellites, and defense. In their opinion, this made Rocket Lab meaningfully different from a startup betting everything on a single rocket. This quarter backed that view up.

Revenue hit a record, climbing 62% from a year ago, and the backlog also increased to an all-time high of $2.36 billion. But what’s interesting is that Neutron wasn’t behind this performance, since it hasn’t even launched yet. The growth came from the Space Systems business and new defense and government contracts.