Deck barge to have new role as rocket landing platform

Image: Rocket Lab USA

A 400 x 105 foot deck barge secured from Canal Barge Company is set to have a new role, deployed off the U.S. East Coast as an ocean landing platform for rockets returning to Earth.

Long Beach, Calif.- headquartered Rocket Lab USA Inc. says that, as the Return on Investment the 400 x 105 foot Canal Barge Company barge Oceanus will be customized to enable landings at sea for its reusable Neutron rocket.

Modifications will include autonomous ground support equipment to capture and secure the landed Neutron, blast shielding to protect equipment during Neutron landings, and station-keeping thrusters for precise positioning.

Construction of Return On Investment will take place throughout 2025, with expectations of being ready to enter service in 2026.

Rocket Lab’s Neutron rocket is a reusable carbon composite medium-lift launch vehicle being developed to meet the demand for single and multi-satellite constellation deployment, high assurance national security missions, and cargo to various Earth orbits, as well as lunar and interplanetary exploration.

Neutron will be able to perform two reusable mission profiles, depending on mission requirements. This includes Return To Launch Site (RTLS) missions for Neutron first stage propulsive landings at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 3 in Virginia. The second reusable mission profile, a Down Range Landing (DRL) maneuver, is intended to maximize Neutron’s performance and will result in Neutron’s precise propulsive landing at sea on the landing platform.

Rocket Lab currently expects Neutron to make its debut launch from Virginia in the second half of 2025.

“We’re working hard to bring Neutron online with one of the fastest development schedules in history for a new rocket, because we know medium-lift launch opportunities are limited and space access is being stifled,” says Rocket Lab founder and CEO, New Zealland entrepreneur Sir Peter Beck. “Neutron’s debut launch planned for later this year will help to ease that bottleneck, and our new landing platform will open space access even further by enabling even more mission opportunities that require maximum Neutron performance.”