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9 February 2012-Rocket Lab launches Instant Eyes in the USA

Cape Canaveral, FL – Instant Eyes™, a new to market, mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) developed by Rocket Lab Limited and Florida-based L2 Aerospace completed a major milestone last week, with successful end-to-end flights in the US. As a result, the innovative technology is now moving on to prove its viability in military applications for government agencies later this spring.

Instant Eyes™, along with its parent companies Rocket Lab Limited and L2 Aerospace, conducted the operational checkout flight of the mini UAV last week after extensive engineering test flights in New Zealand in 2011. Instant Eyes™ underwent realistic operational conditions during the flights, in preparation for operational demonstrations for NATO and U.S. Military users in March and April.

14 December 2011-Rocket Lab makes it into the Virgin Business Challenge top ten

Rocket Lab was announced as one of the ten finalists in the Virgin Business Challenge presented by BNZ.  The challenge is to find New Zealand’s best entrepreneurial talent with a prize pack, which includes $100,000 cash and time with Sir Richard Branson.

18 November 2011-Rocket Lab receives award for technology development

This week, Popular Science Magazine released it’s “Best of What’s New for 2011” Awards, highlighting the top 100 innovative technologies in the world. Instant Eyes™, a hand held, rocket launched UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) developed by Rocket Lab and L2 Aerospace, received an award in the “Security” category as one of the “World’s Most Innovative Technologies." To view the award go to: http://www.popsci.com/bown/2011/product/rocket-lab-instant-eyes Instant Eyes™ is designed to be used by front line troops, first responders and others that require real-time situational awareness. For more information http://www.rocketlab.co.nz/space-and-defense.html .

To date, Instant Eyes™ has been successfully flown in New Zealand and will be further demonstrated in U.S.-based military demonstrations over the next few months, before going into commercial production in 2012. “It has been a rapid development program for the team at Rocket Lab requiring a range of new technologies to be developed, tested and implemented, all within a nine month time frame.” noted Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck. “We have all developed a smart product and L2 Aerospace are getting it into the hands of the people who need it”

“For 24 years, Popular Science has honored the innovations that surprise and amaze us − those that make a positive impact on our world today and challenge our views of whatʼs possible in the future.” said Mark Jannot, Editor-in-Chief of Popular Science. “The Best of Whatʼs New Award is the magazineʼs top honor, and the 100 winners − chosen from among thousands of entrants − represent the highest level of achievement in their fields.”

1 September 2011-Rocket lab is awarded a research contract from DARPA and ONR.

Following the successful completion of a phase 1 research contract with ONR and DARPA, Rocket Lab has signed a follow on contract for phase 2 of the High Density Propellant Research Program. The new propulsion system offers significant benefits in terms of performance and safety. The density performance is comparable to conventional high performance solid propellants but with the controllability of liquid propellants being throttleable and re-startable

7 October 2011-Rocket Lab announces the development completion of Instant Eyes

Rocket Lab successfully completed the product development of the Instant Eye Miniature Rocket Launch UAV system http://www.rocketlab.co.nz/space-and-defense.html (a joint venture between L2 Aerospace & Rocket Lab) and has shipped multiple units to L2 Aerospace for demonstration to US defence forces. Instant Eyes is a small, lightweight, rapidly deployed hand launched rocket UAV system, which provides almost instantaneous situational awareness and is particularly useful for urban and built-up environments. This is achieved by providing high resolution imagery to mobile devices and networks within seconds of activation. The unit consists of a small rocket system which is launched from a handheld tube.

June 2011 - Rocket Lab announces the resignation of Mark Rocket from his position as Director effective from June 2nd, 2011 due to increasing commitments required for new business opportunities. The Board of Rocket Lab acknowledges the contribution Mr Rocket made as a Director during the formative years of the company and wishes him well in his future endeavors.

March 2011 - Rocket Lab signed a deal with partners L2 Aerospace to develop the next generation of rapid deployed rocket systems. The second-generation system offers a much larger format with increased altitude and range offering a launch platform that provides greater capability.

February 2011 - Rocket Lab successfully concluded the first phase of their DARPA contract. The research was focused on developing new novel high density mono propellants that have the potential to offer significant advantages over the current state of the art. The research concluded with a series of fully instrumented static test fires validating the propulsion system for further development.

January 2011 - A number of significant milestones for the rapid deployed rocket systems program for L2 Aerospace were achieved. The propulsion section of the program has been completed with the solid motor fully qualified and accepted with over 40 static test firings. Sub systems such as avionics, recovery and launch systems have also been completed. A successful low altitude flight test was conducted with all onboard systems performing nominally.