Launch services provider Rocket Lab has announced plans to build a launch site on New Zealand’s South Island to deliver small satellites to low Earth orbit using its Electron vehicle. Peter Beck, Rocket Lab CEO, said his company’s new site would cut…
Launch services provider Rocket Lab has announced plans to build a launch site on New Zealand’s South Island to deliver small satellites to low Earth orbit using its Electron vehicle.
Peter Beck, Rocket Lab CEO, said his company’s new site would cut the long lead times for satellite launches, which mean some small satellite companies cannot reach orbit in timeframes that keep their businesses competitive.
“New Zealand’s access to high inclination and sun-synchronous orbits are ideal for small satellites,” Beck said.
“Operational logistics are made easier due to New Zealand’s minimal air and sea traffic which enables a significantly more frequent launch rate and economies of scale.”
NASA has previously used the site on Kaitorete Spit, in the South Island’s Canterbury region, to launch suborbital flights. Missions from the pad can reach a wide range of inclinations, from sun-synchronous through to 45 degrees.
“With the launch frequency possible from this site, Rocket Lab is one major step closer to its goal of making space commercially accessible,” Beck said. Beck anticipates the site will be ready in Q4, after which Rocket Lab can begin to test its Electron.
While Kaitorete Spit will be Rocket Lab’s primary launch site, the company has said it is also looking at launching from established spaceports in the US and at other potential sites in New Zealand.
Rocket Lab, which is headquartered in the US but has most of its technical staff in New Zealand, is developing a rocket designed to lift up to 110kg to sun-synchronous orbit at about US$4.9m per launch. In March, the company announced it had secured a second round of financing to fund Electron through to commercial flights from New Zealand in 2016.
US venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners led the round and Lockheed Martin joined as a strategic investor. Existing investors Khosla Ventures – which led its Series A in 2013 – and K1W1 also participated.
At the time, Beck said the deal will provide most of the funding the group need through to commercial flights in 2016, although he declined to disclose the size of the investments. Beck said that “one can draw some conclusions given the nature and size of the project as to the funding levels”.
He previously told SatelliteFinance that the group has signed up roughly 30 commercial customers, mainly from the US with some from Europe, and that it planned to post a manifest shortly.
