Rutherford
Rutherford is Rocket Lab’s electric-pump-fed liquid-oxygen/kerosene engine for Electron. Brushless DC motors and lithium-polymer batteries drive its propellant pumps, and major engine components are additively manufactured. Nine sea-level engines power Electron’s first stage. Rocket Lab’s August 2020 performance update lists 5,600 lbf per sea-level engine (about 24.91 kN), 311 s specific impulse and 35 kg engine mass; its user guide rounds the same thrust to 24 kN. Development and initial engine firing began in 2013. The vacuum-optimized version is a separate upper-stage installation.
Identity
- Domains
- spaceflight
- Identity Level
- model
- Kind
- liquid-rocket-engine
- Name
- Rutherford
- Status
- active
Details
- Description
- Rutherford is Rocket Lab’s electric-pump-fed liquid-oxygen/kerosene engine for Electron. Brushless DC motors and lithium-polymer batteries drive its propellant pumps, and major engine components are additively manufactured. Nine sea-level engines power Electron’s first stage. Rocket Lab’s August 2020 performance update lists 5,600 lbf per sea-level engine (about 24.91 kN), 311 s specific impulse and 35 kg engine mass; its user guide rounds the same thrust to 24 kN. Development and initial engine firing began in 2013. The vacuum-optimized version is a separate upper-stage installation.
- Developers
- Dry Mass
- …
- Family
- First Run Date
- 2013
- Manufacturers
- Propellants
- keroseneliquid oxygen
- Rocket Specs
- Cycle
- electric-pump-fed
- Sea Level Specific Impulse
- …
- Sea Level Thrust
- …
Links
- Official Url
- https://rocketlabcorp.com/launch/electron/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 29, 2026 at 08:54:44 UTC
- Updated Time
- October 29, 2026 at 15:19:34 UTC
Other
- Sources
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-14
- Note
- Rocket Lab’s current Electron Payload User Guide identifies Rutherford as a 5,600 lbf (24 kN) electric-pumped LOX/kerosene engine, documents nine first-stage engines and one vacuum-optimized second-stage engine, and describes its brushless-DC electric pumps and additive manufacturing.
- Publisher
- Rocket Lab
- Title
- Electron Payload User Guide v7.0
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-14
- Note
- Rocket Lab identifies Rutherford as the electric-pump-fed engine designed for Electron and documents its in-house additive-manufacturing boundary.
- Publisher
- Rocket Lab
- Title
- Electron Payload User Guide
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-14
- Note
- Rocket Lab’s official vehicle reference establishes Electron as the Rutherford-powered launch vehicle.
- Publisher
- Rocket Lab
- Title
- Electron
- Accessed Date
- 2026-08-14
- Note
- Rocket Lab’s official HASTE reference documents Rutherford-powered HASTE configurations.
- Publisher
- Rocket Lab
- Title
- HASTE
- Accessed Date
- 2026-10-29
- Note
- 4 August 2020 release: 35 kg engine mass, development and initial firing in 2013, 5,600 lbf sea-level thrust and 311 s specific impulse for first-stage engines; 5,800 lbf and 343 s for the vacuum version. 5,600 lbf converts to 24.910 kN.
- Publisher
- Rocket Lab
- Title
- Rocket Lab Increases Electron Payload Capacity, Enabling Interplanetary Missions and Reusability