Deployable Launch System Aims to Put Rockets Anywhere, Anytime
New Containerized Platform Targets Alaska Debut, Would Give Company Six Pads Worldwide
A launch system built to fit inside standard shipping containers and deploy a complete rocket to almost any site on Earth has been unveiled by Rocket Lab.
“GHOST is the answer to launching anywhere, anytime, and without compromise.”
Sir Peter Beck, Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab Corp. introduced the system, called GHOST, in an announcement from Long Beach, Calif., dated Aug. 10. The company said GHOST — short for Global Hypersonic & Orbital Spaceport Technology — adapts its Electron and HASTE rockets for rapid setup at new locations, packaging the rocket itself along with launch infrastructure, ground support equipment and range control systems into containers that can ship worldwide.
The first GHOST site, designated Rocket Lab Launch Complex 4, will be built at the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska. The company said two pads are planned there to support high-frequency launch campaigns. According to the release, those pads would supplement Rocket Lab’s existing sites — Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand and Launch Complexes 2 and 3 in Virginia — bringing the company’s total to six pads across two hemispheres.
Because Electron and HASTE share the same ground infrastructure, the company said GHOST would let both vehicles launch from the new sites, a combination it described as suited to time-sensitive national security missions as well as broader international demand for sovereign launch capability.
Sir Peter Beck, founder and chief executive of Rocket Lab, said in the release: “We’ve been leading the field in small launch for missile defense and national security for years. Our reliability, repeatability, and affordability sets us apart from everybody else, and creating GHOST is about packaging that up into a deployable system that can serve the world’s most important programs from wherever those missions need. Whether it’s for missile defense and deterrence, or opening up more trajectories, orbital missions, and sovereign launch capabilities in allied nations, GHOST is the answer to launching anywhere, anytime, and without compromise.”
The company said GHOST is set to make its operational debut with a suborbital launch from Alaska in 2027.