Rocket Lab's Mahia launch site prepared for takeoff

Tuesday, 27 September 2016

Rocket Lab's private launch site, the first of its kind in the world, is 'good to go'.

On Tuesday the company said it had completed the world's first private orbital launch site on Mahia Peninsula, which is on the East Coast south of Gisborne.

The launch range, which was licensed to launch every 72 hours for the next 30 years, would mean the country would soon become the nation with the highest frequency of space launches anywhere in the world.

An official opening on Tuesday morning was expected to be attended by about 200 people, including Economic Development minister Steven Joyce.

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Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck said the completion of Launch Complex 1 was a 'significant milestone' for the company.

Construction began in December last year and involved upgrading roads and internet infrastructure, he said.

'This is one milestone of many, so there's still plenty to go and plenty to knock down, but it's certainly great to mark the completion of the launch complex and officially open it.'

The launch site would be the primary site for Rocket Lab's Electron rocket launches, and included a 50 tonne platform which was more than 15 metres tall, as well as a hangar where rockets would be prepared for launch.

Mahia Peninsula provided Rocket Lab with a wide launch range the equivalent of the West and East Coast of America combined, and would be used to send satellites into orbit at a cost of $7.6 million.

Nasa, Planet, Spire and Moon Express have all signed on as customers.

Visitors at Tuesday's opening would head down to the launch platform to see it raised from horizontal to vertical, Beck said.

'It will be blessed and will be good to go.'

Beck said the site's opening represented more than just bricks and mortar infrastructure because of recent work by the Government, which in June said it was putting in place a new regulatory regime to enable safe, secure and responsible space launches from the country.

'It's all of the less romantic stuff, but still the stuff that is hard to do.'

A report from Sapere Research Group in June found Rocket Lab's establishment of a rocket launch industry in New Zealand would contribute between $600m and $1.55b to the economy over the next 20 years.