Enlarge / Hello, Hungry Hippo fairing on Neutron. (credit: Rocket Lab)

Rocket Lab is having a pretty good year with a rising stock price and reaching a monthly launch cadence with its Electron vehicle for the first time. But as ever in the space business, the focus is not so much on what a company has done but what it will do. And for Rocket Lab, its future in the launch business lies with the medium-lift Neutron vehicle.

Recently, the company released an updated rendering of the rocket. It shows a slightly sleeker version of Neutron, with a more pointy nose, fins nearer to the top of the rocket, and much broader landing legs. To understand these design changes, Ars spoke with the chief executive of Rocket Lab, Peter Beck.

Asked about Neutron’s snappy new design, Beck quipped, “The lesson we’ve learned here is that people take our renders far more seriously than we take our renders,” he said. However, with that said, the changes highlight some important aspects about Neutron.