Rocket Lab has unveiled GHOST — the Global Hypersonic & Orbital Spaceport Technology — a launch system designed to be disassembled, packed into standard shipping containers and shipped anywhere.
Traditionally, building a spaceport meant securing vast tracts of land, heavy civil engineering, and hardware expected to stay in place for decades. GHOST flips that model: rocket stages, ground support equipment, propellant-loading hardware, flight control systems, range-safety electronics and telemetry-tracking units can all be packed into containers, allowing a launch site to be stood up quickly almost anywhere.
The initiative is backed in part by a US$266 million contract from the US Space Force. Rocket Lab says the system serves military needs — confusing adversaries, enabling unpredictable launch azimuths and polar or high-inclination orbits — as well as commercial ones, letting allied nations build sovereign launch capability without the cost of permanent spaceports.
The first GHOST site will be Launch Complex 4 at the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska, with two operational pads, bringing Rocket Lab's global infrastructure to six pads across both hemispheres. The system, which supports the Electron and HASTE rockets, is scheduled to make its operational debut with a suborbital test flight from Alaska in 2027.
"We've been leading the field in small launch for missile defense and national security for years," said Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck. "GHOST is the answer to launching anywhere, anytime, and without compromise."
