WELLINGTON: Rocket Lab, a Silicon Valley-funded space launch company, on Thursday launched the maiden flight of its battery-powered, 3-D printed rocket from New Zealand’s remote Mahia Peninsula.
“Made it to space. Team delighted,” Rocket Lab said on its official Twitter account.
The successful launch of a low cost, 3D-printed rocket is an important step in the commercial race to bring down financial and logistical barriers to space while also making New Zealand an unlikely space hub. The Los Angeles and New Zealand-based rocket firm has touted its service as a way for companies to get satellites into orbit regularly. Bad weather had delayed the rocket from taking off three times this week. New Zealand has created new rocket legislation and set up a space agency in anticipation of becoming a low-cost space hub.
Ships and planes need re-routing every time a rocket is launched, which limits opportunities in crowded US skies, but New Zealand, a country of 4 million people in the South Pacific, has only Antarctica to its south. “People come to Mahia so they can go to the beach and it’s been chopped off now and by the sounds of it one of these rockets are going to be launching one every 30 days so they’ve taken over our lifestyle,” said Mahia farmer Pua Taumata.
But Taumata also said the programme could bring opportunities.
Rocket Lab is one of about 30 companies and agencies worldwide developing small satellite launchers as an alternative to firms jostling for space on larger launches or paying around $50 million for a dedicated service. Rocket Lab’s customers include Nasa, earth-imaging firm Planet and startups Spire and Moon Express. — Reuters
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