Rocket Lab wins NASA contract for Mars spacecraft as interplanetary missions become less costly - CNBC

While the mission's total cost has yet to be released, Rocket Lab's kitchen oven-sized Photon spacecraft represents a low-cost method of conducting an interplanetary mission, which often cost hundreds of millions of dollars or more.

Photon is the core of Rocket Lab's space systems business, with the company expanding last year beyond building rockets into building versatile spacecraft as well.

"Traditionally how interplanetary missions would be done, you're talking about large decadal missions – generally with a 'B' [for billions] in front of it," Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck told CNBC.

Advancements by private companies in rockets and spacecraft have brought down the cost of interplanetary missions, Beck said.

Beck said a launch date should be announced "pretty soon." Additionally, Rocket Lab is flying a private mission to Venus, also using a Photon spacecraft, for launch in 2023.

The interplanetary Photon is not like the spacecraft that Rocket Lab launches into low Earth orbit, because it needs a beefed-up propulsion system, the ability to survive extreme temperature swings, a more powerful radio, and strengthening against radiation, among other things.

NASA will later pick a rocket to launch Escapade, and Beck said Rocket Lab hopes to have its coming Neutron rocket ready in time to compete for the contract – "but we were happy to build spacecraft like this for other missions," he added.

Beck has "lofty" aspirations for building and selling spacecraft, but said it's already "exceeding those" – which is good, as Rocket Lab's SPAC presentation forecast the unity to hit $656 million in revenue by 2027, from $2 million last year.

The failure was Rocket Lab's second in the past year, but Beck emphasized that the company's problems are "not unheard of" in the launch industry, referencing the past failures of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets and Arianespace's Vega rockets.