CITY FOCUS
size of the launch vehicles hasn ’ t .”
With Rocket Lab angling to undercut the cost of larger launcher companies , the company is expected to reap the rewards of what is expected to become a $ 22bn industry by 2028 . The ability for small companies , on startup budgets , to get their tech into space is “ critically important ”, Jason Andrews , CEO of Spaceflight Industries , told Wired last year . The ability to control the orbital trajectory of the rockets will allow consumers to reach new , optimal areas of Earth ’ s orbit . This goal will also be brought closer by Rocket Lab ’ s launch location .
The company ’ s private launch site , located on the Mahia Peninsula , 500km south of Auckland , has the benefit of exclusivity . Unlike the crowded launch pads at Cape Canaveral , the Mahia pad is entirely devoted to Rocket Lab launches of the Electron rocket , with a government contract allowing for launches every three days ( totalling 100 over the year ), the company is expecting business to boom . Given that last year , only 87 orbital launches were completed by companies and countries combined , Rocket Lab ’ s
100-launch permit may seem excessive , but Wired asserts that “ having dedicated providers that tailor to their shrunken-down needs means more smallsat companies can get to space better , cheaper , and quicker . If you build a rocket , the payloads will come .”
66 April 2018