Rocket Lab unveils containerised GHOST launch system

Packaged within standard shipping containers, the system deploys rockets, launch infrastructure and range control equipment to any location worldwide.

Rocket Lab has unveiled GHOST, a containerised launch system designed to enable suborbital and orbital launches from any location worldwide.

Standing for Global Hypersonic & Orbital Spaceport Technology, the system packages complete Electron and HASTE rockets together with launch infrastructure, ground support and range control equipment inside standard shipping containers. Because both vehicles share the same ground infrastructure, GHOST gives Rocket Lab dual-launch capability at new locations, extending the mission profiles of Electron and HASTE to meet demand for sovereign orbital and suborbital launch capability among allied nations. Its modular, small-footprint design is intended to support responsive and time-critical missions, including rapid site activation and simultaneous launches.

Sir Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, says: “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.”

GHOST's first site, Rocket Lab Launch Complex 4, will be established at the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska, where two pads are planned to support high-frequency launch campaigns. The pads will complement Rocket Lab's existing sites at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand and Launch Complex 2 and Launch Complex 3 in Virginia, taking the company's total to six pads across two hemispheres. The system is due to make its operational debut with a suborbital launch from Alaska in 2027.