Rocket Lab Electron Prometheus Run (VAN)
Electron
Status
Success
Date
18 NOV 2025
13:00
Launch Provider
Rocket Lab
Launch Pad
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C)
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA
Mission Overview
Sub-orbital launch under Rocket Lab’s Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) program. This mission was lead by MDA and deployed a government-provided primary payload developed by the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), and multiple secondary payloads by federal and industry partners, which tested key technologies for missile defense applications. The mission was contracted to Rocket Lab through the DIU’s Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities (HyCAT) program, an initiative supporting test and evaluation of new and emerging hypersonic technologies through low cost, responsive and long endurance flight testing.
Rocket
Electron
Mission Type
Government/Top Secret
Orbit
Suborbital
Stages
3
Livestream
Rocket Details
Electron is a two-stage orbital expendable launch vehicle (with an optional third stage) developed by the American aerospace company Rocket Lab. Electron is a small-lift launch vehicle designed to launch small satellites and cubesats to sun-synchronous orbit and low earth orbit. The Electron is the first orbital class rocket to use electric-pump-fed engines, powered by the 9 Rutherford engines on the first stage. It is also used as a suborbital testbed (called HASTE) for hypersonics research.
Height
18 m
Diameter
1.2 m
Launch Mass
13 T
Thrust
162 kN