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Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) Defence Ministers’ Joint Press Conference Meeting (FDMM) in Singapore |
The grassy plains on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, once home to cattle, have been transformed into a key aerospace facility for the Pacific nation as it looks to become a global hub for advanced aircraft and space exploration. New Zealand is inviting aerospace firms from around the world to set up at the new Tawhaki National Aerospace Centre on the Kaitorete spit, a 25 kilometre (15.5 mile) long and 3km wide coastal site.
The centre, in which the government has to date invested
NZ$29.4 million ($17.97 million), is part of an ambitious plan to turn the
country's nascent aerospace sector into a significant contributor to the
agriculturally dependent economy. There is little air traffic over the spit,
launches over water minimise risk from falling debris, and a latitude deep in
the Southern Hemisphere makes it easier to place satellites in specific orbits.
“You cannot underestimate our location in the world and how
that is an enormous advantage,” said Judith Collins, who became the country’s
first space minister after the government was elected in October 2023. Globally
the space and aerospace industries are growing fast; there were 50% more
commercial space launches in 2023 than a year earlier, according to the U.S.
Space Foundation. Three industry experts said New Zealand’s location gives it a
leg up as it tries to muscle deeper into the more than $600 billion global
market. The country hosted seven rocket launches last year, the fourth-most
globally, all by the U.S.-listed and New Zealand-founded Rocket Lab. The
success of the $2.07 billion company, which has launched 44 rockets in New
Zealand since 2017, has helped develop a space technology sector that includes
the likes of titanium 3D printer Zenith Technica.
But New Zealand is still a small player, even relative to
its neighbours, with Australia’s space sector worth around A$5 billion ($3.33
billion) annually and Japan’s worth $27 billion.
New Zealand’s space industry was worth roughly NZ$1.7
billion ($1.04 billion) in 2019 – the latest data available – and the
government wants to grow the aerospace industry to NZ$10 billion by 2030,
offering a needed jolt to an economy that is in recession and struggling from
weak productivity.
To do that, the government said ahead of being elected that
it wants to reduce the regulatory burden for launches, testing and employment
in the space sector.
New Zealand has signed several agreements to ease
international collaboration, and in April, Collins met with NASA and U.S. Space
Command officials to promote New Zealand.
A local government owns and is growing a satellite
monitoring facility in the southernmost part of New Zealand for clients that
include the European Space Agency.
TO SPACE AND BEYOND
Tawhaki, a partnership between the government and local
indigenous people, was chosen for its location near a main city and port on the
east coast, so launches head off over the sea. At the moment, however, only
advanced aircraft are being tested there. “The reason Tawhaki was established
was because of productivity. It was about how do we get more jobs, higher
growth jobs, higher tech jobs, and start to think about land use in a different
way,” said Linda Falwasser, the facility’s chief executive.
More than 5,000 New Zealanders were directly employed in the
space sector in 2019, up from almost none fifteen years earlier. There are more
than 20 firms in the country founded solely to provide space-related services,
according to New Zealand consultancy SpaceBase.
“There are a wide range of space and advanced aerospace
projects that are starting to kick along and creating a lot of jobs and a lot
of value for New Zealand,” said Mark Rocket, president of Aerospace New Zealand
and founder of Kea Aerospace, which uses Tawhaki for trials. At Tawhaki, four
companies, including Boeing subsidiary Wisk Aero, have publicised using the
facility to test new technology; facility officials say that others are there
too, but that they can’t discuss them for privacy reasons.
Wisk’s uncrewed aircraft successfully launched from Tawhaki
late last year and flew into controlled airspace alongside a crewed aircraft in
what is thought to be a commercial global first.
Falwasser said that her facility is negotiating with both
German and Singaporean entities who are eager to use Tawhaki, and that she had
just returned from a trade mission with the prime minister to Southeast Asia to
drum up business.
“We’re not here to build a white elephant. We’re here to build or to engage on opportunities based on real demand,” she said. “Vertical orbital launch is our next step.”