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Investing.com -- Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) stock rose 5% Friday morning after the company announced it has secured a direct contract for two dedicated Electron launches with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The contract includes two missions launching from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. The first launch, scheduled for December 2025, will deploy JAXA’s RApid Innovative payload demonstration SatellitE-4 (RAISE-4) spacecraft. The second launch, planned for 2026, will carry eight separate spacecraft including educational small satellites and an ocean monitoring satellite.
These missions are part of JAXA’s Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program, which aims to demonstrate technologies developed by private companies, universities, and research institutions throughout Japan.
"It’s an incredible honor to be entrusted by JAXA to further their goals of innovation and development for Japan," said Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck. "These missions are a demonstration of Electron’s global importance - supporting the growth of Japan’s space industry with launch on a U.S. rocket from a New Zealand launch site."
Rocket Lab has established itself as a key launch provider for the Japanese space industry, with more than two dozen dedicated missions booked on its Electron rocket through the end of the decade. The company has already completed several successful missions for Japanese satellite operators this year, including constellation deployment missions for iQPS and Synspective.
The company has previously supported other Japanese space initiatives, including Astroscale-Japan’s orbital debris removal program in February 2024 and a mission for Tokyo-based ALE in 2019.
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