Rocket Lab says its decision to delay its planned mission to Venus by about two years was made for business reasons, but its share market performance was not a factor.
The New Zealand-founded space launch company had planned to send a rocket to Venus this year to search for evidence of life in the planet’s atmosphere.
It would have been the first example of privately-funded interplanetary exploration.
The mission appeared to still be on in May, before Rocket Lab quietly put it on the back-burner last month.
Spokesperson Morgan Bailey said it had decided to delay the mission so it could concentrate on its commercial launches.
“The decision was a business one and we look forward to delivering the Venus mission in 2025,” she said.
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2025 was the next possible date for the Venus launch because of the alignment of the planets, she said.
Rocket Lab’s rationale for pushing back the launch would appear to leave open the possibility of further delays if it remains under pressure to meet its commercial launch schedule.
“The priority has been on delivering customer missions, both launch and spacecraft, so a private mission like the Venus one will always take a back seat to that,” Bailey said.
Astronomers first speculated in 1967 that the clouds of Venus might be one of the few places in the solar system capable of sustaining life.
In 2020, scientists believed they found evidence that the planet’s upper atmosphere contained a gas called phosphine, which on Earth is believed to be generated naturally by the decay of organic matter.
Rocket Lab founder and chief executive Peter Beck, who retains about an 11% stake in Rocket Lab, said in 2020 that he believed it had a duty to assist in the search for extraterrestrial life even though it was a commercial business.
“It is very lucky we have got a very supportive board,” he said then.
Rocket Lab’s share price has climbed more than 80% to US$7.50 over the past 12 months as the company has extended its long string of successful launches and rival companies have experienced setbacks.
All of Rocket Lab’s last 18 attempts to deploy satellites into space have been successful.
However, investors who bought into the company at or soon after its public listing on the Nasdaq exchange in 2021, when its shares debuted at US$11.58, would remain out of pocket.
Bailey said its market performance was not a factor in the Venus-mission delay.
“It’s about prioritising our growing launch manifest and spacecraft order backlog.”
Rocket Lab had launched more frequently and successfully that any other small launch vehicle operator globally, and the development of its new mid-sized Neutron rockets “continues at pace”, she said.
“The team is firing on all cylinders; there is no cause for disappointment.”
