The Big Rocket Showdown: Neutron vs. Falcon 9

A discussion of the different design philosophies and strategies of SpaceX and Rocket Lab

Let us do a comparison between the current king of the rocket launch industry, Falcon 9 manufactured by SpaceX and the upcoming contender Neutron being designed by Rocket Lab, a company originating in New Zealand. While you may not have heard about Rocket Lab, it is probably the most successful and innovative rocket launching company besides SpaceX. They were the first to make fully 3D-printed rocket engines and launch a rocket made from carbon fiber composite into orbit.

I could go on about all the cool stuff Rocket Lab has done, but the bottom line is that this is a company with a strong track record. They have been busy developing Neutron for a year now and recently put their new Archimedes engine on display. Ten Archimedes engines will power the Neutron rocket: nine for the first stage and one for the second stage. Rocket Lab has also shown the completion of tooling and moulds to build the rocket. When a company has created moulds and tooling for a rocket, it means they are confident about having finalized all key design work.