Khosla-Backed Rocket Lab Unveils Lightweight Launch Vehicle

Rocket Lab said Wednesday it’s developing a relatively light, inexpensive launch vehicle capable of propelling smaller satellites into space. The seven-year-old startup, with offices in Los Angeles and Auckland, New Zealand, said the carbon composite Electron rocket will come in at less than $5 million and just above 10 tons. The Khosla Ventures-backed company said it has already lined up customers for the vehicle’s first 30 launches. Smaller satellites are becoming increasingly popular as companies like Planet Labs and Skybox, which Google plans to acquire, pack increasingly powerful and inexpensive technology into tinier packages.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.