World-first as Kiwi aerospace firm sends businesses to infinity and beyond...

Auckland-based Aerospace company Rocket Lab has plans to revolutionise the global space industry, by making it easier for companies to launch small satellites into orbit.

In building a world-first carbon-composite launch vehicle, named Electron, at its Auckland facility, Rocket Lab aims to reduce the price of delivering a satellite into orbit.

At a price of less than US$5 million, founder Peter Beck believes this represents a drastic cost reduction compared to existing dedicated launch services.

The lead-time for businesses to launch a satellite will also be reduced from years to weeks through vertical integration with Rocket Lab's private launch facility, with the company attracting strong commercial demand for its service with commitments for its first 30 launches.

Revealed at a press event in Auckland today, Electron is 18m in length, 1m diameter and will weigh more than 10 tonnes, becoming the first vehicle of its class capable of delivering payloads up to 100kg into low Earth orbits (LEO).

After founding the company in 2007, Beck did so with a vision of eliminating the commercial barriers to space.

Beck says that rockets have remained prohibitively large and expensive, despite the trend for satellites to become smaller, more capable and affordable. The deficit in launch systems creates a severe barrier for commercial ventures and for the emerging satellite constellation markets.

"The innovation behind Electron will release the limitations on launching small satellites," he adds.

"Our vision at Rocket Lab is to make space commercially viable and more accessible than ever before, doing what the Ford Model T did for consumer automobiles. This technology will really open space for business.

"Along with benefits for commercial enterprises, cheaper and faster space access has the potential to lead to more accurate weather prediction, global high speed Internet access, as well as real-time monitoring of the impacts of human development."

Beck says geographically, New Zealand is in an ideal launch position for a variety of different types of orbits and plans are underway to build a space port on home soil.

"This will bring an innovative and exciting new industry to New Zealand with economic benefits at both a regional and national level," he adds.

"We're currently considering a shortlist of regions as potential locations for a space port and encourage any region interested to get in touch with us now."

Rocket Lab's principal funder is Silicon Valley giant Khosla Ventures, a top-tier venture capital firm that supports companies with projected revenues in excess of US $1 billion.

Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, says it is exciting to see to the technology and innovation coming out of Rocket Lab.

"Opening up access to space will be one of the fundamental developments of our time," Khosla adds.

"We are very excited about our investment in Rocket Lab, which represents technology inventions to help emerge a whole new generation of commercial opportunities by having efficient and cost effective access to space.

"The company's technical innovations will truly transform the space industry.