Above and Beyond
T
he Māhia peninsula is quickly
becoming New Zealand’s rocket
hub. Selected by Rocket Lab and
its CEO Peter Beck as being home
to is rocket launch site. Named
New Zealand Ernst and Young
entrepreneur of the year 2016 and
New Zealand innovator of the year
2015, Peter Beck started Rocket Lab
in 2006 with the goal of removing the
barriers of commercial space.
Rocket Lab is a U.S. company with
a New Zealand subsidiary with
Peter Beck as its C.E.O. The Māhia
peninsula was chosen, because it
has the least barriers for launching
rockets.
Rocket Lab aims to use innovations
in rocket technology plus quick life
cycles (rapid development cycles)
to launch rockets up to a 100 times
a year. Rocket Lab innovations
include the Electron Rocket and the
Rutherford Engine.
The Electron Rocket is 17 meters high
with a diameter of 1.2 metres. The
nominal payload that one Electron
Rocket can carry is 150 kg. The
Electron Rocket is optimized to take
small payloads, at a cost of only five
million dollars as opposed to the 56
million dollar costs that it currently
costs other space programmes, a
91% saving. It has just become far
more affordable to send satellites
and rockets into space commercially.
Every Electron Rocket is made from
carbon composite, because it is light,
strong, and can withstand higher
temperatures than regular heat
conducting materials