Rocket Lab’s Neutron Rocket Will Be More Reusable Than Falcon 9

Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck presented a new update on the design of their forthcoming Neutron rocket and it’s gone from being a near direct equivalent to the Antares to nearly matching the performance of the Falcon 9 but with much greater reuse potential and a significantly simpler and cheaper second stage. Key differences include a much wider booster with more aerodynamic features for recovery and replacing the fairing with doors that can open and close to eliminate the need for separate fairing recovery.