---
title: "Rocket Lab rolls the 1,000th Rutherford engine off its production line"
url: https://www.voxelmatters.com/rocket-lab-rolls-the-1000th-rutherford-engine-off-its-production-line/
date: 2026-05-16
modified: 2026-05-16
lang: en
author: "Davide Sher"
description: "In line with its stated goal of launching 1,000 3D printed engines into space by year-end, Rocket Lab reached a production milestone for its Rutherford engine, completing the 1,000th unit..."
categories:
  - "Aerospace AM"
  - "AM for Space"
tags:
  - "future"
image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/rocket-lab-640x427.jpg
word_count: 429
---

# Rocket Lab rolls the 1,000th Rutherford engine off its production line

[In line with its stated goal of launching 1,000 3D printed engines into space by year-end,](https://www.voxelmatters.com/rocket-lab-targets-1000th-rutherford-engine-launch-as-am-scales-from-electron-to-neutron/) Rocket Lab reached a production milestone for its Rutherford engine, completing the 1,000th unit off its manufacturing line. The achievement marks a new threshold for additive manufacturing in aerospace: the [Rutherford is the world's first 3D printed, electric pump-fed orbital rocket engine](https://www.voxelmatters.com/rocket-lab-raises-75-million-funding-production-electron-rocket-3d-printed-engine/), and its production volume now places it among the most manufactured rocket engines on Earth.

![Learn about the Rocket Lab Rutherford Engine, a game changer in aerospace with its 1,000th unit produced and innovative design.](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/electron-rutherford2-e1674661558467.jpg)The Rutherford engine

Development on Rutherford began in 2013, with the engine making its orbital debut in January 2018 aboard the Electron small launch vehicle. Nine sea-level Rutherford engines power Electron's first stage, each producing 24 kN (5,500 lb) of thrust, while a single vacuum-optimized variant drives the second stage. The engine weighs just 35 kg and uses brushless DC electric motors powered by lithium-polymer batteries to drive its propellant pumps—a configuration that replaces the gas turbine systems used in conventional rocket engines with a simpler, lighter electric drive train.

## Additive manufacturing at the core

The Rutherford's production scalability depends directly on its 3D printed architecture. Its primary components — combustion chamber, injectors, pumps, and main propellant valves — are all produced additively, and can be printed in 24 hours, a fraction of the time required by conventional machining and casting. Rocket Lab manufactures the engines at its Long Beach, California facility, which houses dedicated in-house metal 3D printing equipment from suppliers including EOS, Nikon SLM Solutions, and Renishaw, supported by Carpenter Technology for metal powders.

The production rate has scaled significantly since the program's early years, growing from approximately one engine per month in 2017 to a target of around 200 units annually. By late 2025, Rutherford engines had powered more than 70 successful Electron launches, with more than 800 engines flown to space.

## From Rutherford to Archimedes

The same AM-first philosophy carries into Rocket Lab's next-generation propulsion program. [The Archimedes engine, designed to power the partially reusable Neutron medium-lift vehicle, features 3D printed turbo pump housings, a thrust chamber, valve housings, and structural components](https://www.voxelmatters.com/rocket-lab-completes-archimedes-3d-printed-engine-build/). An oxidizer-rich staged-combustion engine running on liquid oxygen and methane, Archimedes produces 733 kN (165,000 lbf) of thrust per unit, with a first-stage cluster of nine engines delivering a combined 1,450,000 lbf. The engine is designed for a minimum of 20 reuses per unit.

Rocket Lab completed the first full assembly of Archimedes and began a test campaign at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, with long-lead 3D printed components for subsequent engines already manufactured and undergoing checkouts at the Engine Development Complex in Long Beach.