June 18, 2024 • 19 mins
In May 2017, Rocket Lab launched its first rocket into space.
Over the last seven years, the company has grown to become a powerhouse in the global aerospace industry, and has driven the growth of New Zealand’s space sector.
The company’s astronomical success has seen founder Peter Beck receive a knighthood in the recent King’s Birthday Honours.
Ahead of the company’s 50th launch, Beck joins The Front Page to discuss how far he plans the company to soar – and why the sky isn’t the limit for New Zealand.
Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer: Paddy Fox
Producer: Ethan Sills
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Kielda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,
a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. In
May seventeen, rocket Lab launched its first rocket into space.
Over the last seven years, the company has grown to
become a powerhouse in the global aerospace industry and has
(00:30):
driven the growth of New Zealand's space sector. The company's
astronomical success has seen founder Peter Beck receive a knighthood
in the recent King's Birthday Honors. Ahead of the company's
fiftieth launch, Beck joins us today on the Front Page
to discuss how far he plans the company to soar
(00:52):
and why the sky isn't the limit for New Zealand.
I believe that there's a congrats in order. Are you
making everyone call you sir Peter now?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh, Jesse, No, no, not at all, it's just peak.
Thanks very much.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And for those who may not know, I guess they've
been living under a rock. How would you explain what
rocket Lab does to someone on the street.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
So we design and build and launch rockets and also
satellites and spacecraft. So we launch a little rocket called
Electron and it's now the second most frequently launched US
rocket in fact, the fourth most frequently launched rocket in
the world, and we built spacecraft ranging from little missions
through to very large national security missions and even missions
(01:39):
to Mars.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
And you take it through from the design and obviously
working out the components stage right through to the launch.
That's pretty spectacular.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, So we're very unique in the fact that, you know,
we started off obviously in launching rockets, but now we
are a multinational end to end space company. So we'll
design a satellite for somebody, we'll launch a satellite for somebody,
will even operate that satellite, so we have the keys,
the tools, and then the.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Service that no time to lose mission? Am I pronouncing
that right?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
No time to lose? So we always have a little
bit of a play on the names. The rocket industry
is an incredibly serious industry, so we like to have
just a little bit of fun.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
N No Time to Loose mission is scheduled to launch
from Rocket Lab Launch Complex one today, June nineteenth. This
mission puts you on track to reach fifty launches faster
than any other company in history. How significance is.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
That, I think I think it's quite significant. Really, I mean,
everybody sees the rocket. But I guess what is less
obvious is all of the infrastructure and everything behind it.
And you know, it's well understood that your first rocket
is really really hard. Your twentieth rocket is like twenty
times harder than your first rocket because you have to
be in full production at that point. So reaching a
milestone of fifty flights, not many rockets have launched as
(02:58):
many as fifty times, let alone to do it the fastest,
I think a real testament to the team and to
the company.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
And what we're talking about today is a French company,
isn't it in terms of there's no time to lose mission?
What are they launching?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So they have a number of spacecraft. So this is
a first of five missions for us, and it's a
constellation of spacecraft, and each one of those launches is
going to a very specific plane, and each one of
those five launches delivers them to all those different planes.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
And what do they use that for? Like, how do
companies use that technology? Now that's in all bit.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Look, I'll give you a great example of two missions
we just launched FANASA in fact, and those two missions
were to measure the temperature radiating out of the South
and North Pole simultaneously, and by measuring that temperature, you
can determine how fast dice is melting and also the
sea rise and might surprise everybody that there is no
validated analytical model of sea rise. So you know, those
(03:52):
two satellites are providing the first actual data that we
have to measure it in any level of complexity. And look,
this is just a couple of fifty missions, right, And
you know there's a tremendous number of missions, whether it
be you know, science missions of climate change, missions like that,
missions for national security, or you know, we went to
the Moon two years ago, so really a huge span
(04:15):
of missions.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Just casually chucking in there that you've gone to the moon.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And I guess if we go back a few years
when you first launched rocket Lab in two thousand and six,
so to speak, did people think you were mental?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, there's certainly some questions asked, that's for sure. It
seemed an unlikely place to begin, I guess. But you know,
my dream as a kid was always to go and
work for NASA. That was the dream. And I got
to see that dream out, but in a slightly different way.
In the fact that we get to work with NASA
on a bunch of missions. So I got to work
(04:52):
with NASA rather than work in NASA. Yeah, so unlikely beginnings.
But you know, I've always said that New Zealanders full
of incredibly talented and bright engineers, and really in this game,
that's what it takes.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And I know that we've got the launch point down
in Mahia Peninsula. I know that you've faced backlash with
locals in the past about that launch site.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
On the outskirts of Mahya. A group of locals opposed
to Rocket Labs operations have set up a small protest
that was a recent payload for the US military that
galvanized as simmering discontent among some in the community.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Originally, I thought it was going to be a wonderful idea.
I thought that our babies can aspire to be rocket scientists.
But I've seen now that this is a big company
that is never going to put our needs.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
For where's the relationship now at between Rocket Lab and
those locals after fifty launches?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Now, yeah, I think it needs that needs to be
put in a little bit of context. I think, you know,
we have a wonderful relationship down in that community, and
in fact, a lot of that community is filled with
rock and lab people. And yeah, like anything, there's always
people that aren't supportive of it. So I think it's
an extreme view to say, you know, Tara whole community
with a few So, yeah, there's a few people that
don't enjoy what we do, but you know, we have
(06:16):
a vast majority of strong community support and the relationship
has always been great. You know, when we when we
first started to look for launch sites, I remember meeting,
you know, the representative of the landowners, you know, because
it's it's it's obviously Mari land, and they were looking
to diversify out of farming. And you know, they diversified
(06:37):
it out of farming very successfully and of course both
successfully and in many ways, including financially. And you know,
I think nobody expected the diversification to come in in
the terms of rockets, but nevertheless, you know, it's been
a it's been a great and continue to be a
great partnership.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Do you see any other parts of New Zealand that
could diversify like Mahia Peninsula has to the space sector.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, look, I mean the space industry isn't just launch
In fact, you know, two thirds of their business is
building satellites in spacecraft and that's kind of geographically agnostic.
And there's some great startups actually in New Zealand now,
great space startups, and we're really started to see an
ecosystem build, which is super exciting. So I think New
Zealand can contribute in the space industry. You know, like
(07:22):
I say, launch Away steals the show, but does a
tremendous amount of opportunity across the whole space sector. And
you're starting to see a number of little startups and
in even traditional companies play.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, it's quite exciting to see. Hey, we've spoken to
Space Minister Judith Collins just after she was overseas promoting
New Zealand space industry in the US. She told us
and New Zealand was number four last year in the
number of launches worldwide, after the US, Russia, and China.
How incredible was that?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, I think I look as a proud TV I
think it's wonderful. And she's right, like America launches the
most amount of rockets, and it's China, then it's Russia,
and then it's the Maha Peninsula, then it's Europe and
in the air and so on and so forth. So no,
I think it's awesome and it shows where New Zealand
kind of sits in ranks in the international industry and
such a short amount of time.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Are you excited to see the real possibilities for New
Zealand when it comes to space.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Absolutely. I mean it's exactly the kind of thing that
New Zealand does really well, and that's kind of testament
to our success and been able to be successful in
scale in New Zealand and New Zealand, as I said before,
are incredibly smart. People, were very innovative and the ability
to kind of move across multiple functions and disciplines, which
is really important in space industry. So no, I look,
(08:40):
we've already seen a bunch of Rocket Lab has spin
out and start their own ventures, which I absolutely applaud
and support. Long may that continue. I think there's this
tremendous opportunity and it's one of those things that every
country has recognized the value of space and investing deeply
in it. I mean, it's kind of like the other AI.
I mean, there's Ais obviously the talk of all the conversations,
(09:02):
but equally, you know something that is scaling just as
fast as space.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
And it also seems like a lot of millionaires and
billionaires around the world are investing in space, like you've
got Jeff Bezos, elon Masker, Richard Branson. Do you think
that more money should be invested in tackling I guess
climate change and issues on this planet rather than exploring
out of space.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I guess, well, I mean, yeah, it's two points. There
is one. You know, we often joke at two BIX
competitors are actually the two wealthiest people on this planet.
And for us, we don't have infinite capital, so we
have to be very smart and we model ourselves after
a famous Ernest Rutherford saying it, and that was he said,
we have no money, so we therefore we have to
think and like I say, we definitely have that as
(09:56):
the shining light within the company. But look, it's very
easy to focus on that as a narrative. But all
of the things that we use down on here on
Earth or so many of the things are enabled by
space and these technologies. Because they're hidden, people don't realize
how much they use them. GPS is the easy example
to call out, right, I mean, if we switched off
(10:17):
the GPS constellation tomorrow. You know, not only it's kind
of inconvenient when you want to use your phone to
get somewhere, but all of the other companies and systems
that are enabled by GPS stop like you know, aircraft navigation,
shipping navigation, whether or not your pizza turns up. You
go on and on and on, so that there's so
many things that people just don't realize are enabled by space.
(10:38):
And the more infrastructure that we can put in orbit,
the more improvement of life and improvement of capabilities you
can have down on here on Earth. And with respect
to climate change, I mean, we just launched two spacecraft
that are going to provide some of the most valuable
data and in climate change in a long time.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I've seen some conversations online around the kind of rivalry
I guess between Lab and space X. Obviously there are
a few competitors in the field. Is that kind of
like a Holden versus Ford kind of rivalry. I don't know,
I'm trying to context your lightst Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
No, Look, look I don't actually think it's a rivalry.
I mean, we all know each other and we will
respect each other for what each other has achieved. And
the one thing I'll say about the space industry is
that it's so immensely difficult to do that. When you
were able to achieve something, everybody else is able to go, Well,
that was really hard. And respect each brother's for each contribution.
(11:33):
So certainly we compete for contracts and for customers and
all of that, but it's a unique industry. At the
end of the day, when why someone else does something
truly amazing, all of the competitors are the first to
congratulate them. So it's unique in that sense.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Elon Musk's space x is leading the rocket launch market
here in the US, but one wizard investment bank or
warning that it's monopoly could well chalk this sector, and
it'squalt huge concern.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
We do see other companies rising.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
We see companies like rocket Lab, which I think is
going to ever ever more be on their heels.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And speaking of contracts, you've also signed a lot of
contracts with the US military, notably the half a billion
dollar contractor built eighteen space vehicles that was announced in
December last year. How much of rocket Lab's business now
comes from that US military and the wider defense relationship.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So to give your listens kind of some context in
the company. So it's about two thousand people in rocket Lab.
We have five different business units and five different states
in the US, one in Canada as well. And two
thirds of the business is focused towards space systems, so
that's you know, spacecraft and satellites, and one third of
the business is sort of focused on launch. And then
(12:54):
across the business about fifty percent of the business is
direct commercial, and then fifty center the business is kind
of government, and then that breaks up into defense and
also civil kind of work, meaning NASA, NOAH and the
government agencies that are non defense.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
In terms of those defense relationships, I guess would work
be done in New Zealand's backyard when it comes to.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
That, well, we certainly have launched defense customers. And you know,
the way that works is in order for us to
launch anything, there has to be a New Zealand launch
license granted, and it's actually granted by a minister, you know,
and there's a very very strict process that's applied through there,
including national interest tests, and it has to be signed
(13:42):
off by a whole bunch of government or organizations. So
you know, if a customer wants to launch out of
New Zealand. A defense customer wants to launch out of
New Zealand, then it's a New Zealand government that decides
whether or not that launches in the interest of all
of our values, all of our treaties and all of
those all of those things, and what we've launched a
data have been R and D platforms and experiments in
(14:06):
those kinds of things. And you know, as a company,
we have our own beliefs and rules, and you know,
we certainly don't do weapons and all those kinds of things.
But the reality is that space is it's called a
dual system kind of domain. GPS satellites we use an
example again, like all of our commercial products and things
(14:26):
are kind of enabled by GPS, but GPS is a
one hundred percent US government owned and operated military asset
in space. So there's a lot of dual use that
goes on between these things in orbit.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
That's really interesting that the government has such a hand on,
especially those defense relationships. Basically, you're not down there chucking
up anything you want into the atmosphere. And I guess
in that sense it would be quite a process if
the US military, say wanted to ever engage in nuclear
related launchers on New Zealand soil, for example, Well, that
simply wouldn't be possible.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I mean, like I say, there is a whole process
that goes through many, many different departments and hands and
it's signed off by a minister. So that just simply
would not be possible because I mean it would be
in conflict with New Zealand's own rules and regulations and
international treaties.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
So, Peter, with the government touting its success in the
space industry here rightly, so, is there anything more that
could be done or should be done to support New
Zealand space industry or are you satisfied with how things
are privately run without the government support or intervention at
the moment.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
No, I think the Space Agency definitely has a role
to play. If you look at NASA as a space agency.
So fifty percent of NASA's kind of role or remit
if you will, is to fund human spaceflight and fund
scientific missions and discovery and all of that. The other
fifty percent is to inspire people to pursue careers in
(15:52):
STEM and higher education and things like that. And this
is where space has a kind of an almost outsized
hand to play. Because you know, we do a lot
of kind of community where it can. We've done a
lot of school visits and things like that, and you
can take the most disengaged kids sitting at the back
of the room and give them something that's been to orbit,
(16:13):
that they've held in their hands, it's been to space,
and watch their eyes sparkle. So it has the ability
to reach people in a totally different people and I
think that's where you know, space agencies in the New
Zealand Space Agency has a really important role to play
and look great, if they want to come and work
for us at rocket Lab, we've got hundreds of jobs opening,
that'd be great. But equally well, if it inspires them
(16:36):
to go into a mathematical career or in you know,
computer science or whatever, then I think that's exactly what
we need to be convincing our kids to can't do.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Oh, there's absolutely a question that space is cool, everyone thinks.
So looking to the future, what are you most excited
about in the space industry and is there anything that
you want to see rocket Lab doing? I guess you know,
a man commission to Mars or reach for the stars.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, yeah, so you know there's a couple of things there.
So one, I'm very passionate about interplanetary and interplanetary science.
So you know, we have two satellites that are headed
to Mars at the the end of this year Vanessa
to measure a whole lot of magnetic field information and
data around around the Red planet. So you know, the
(17:25):
findings of that are going to be not only just
enormous to understand Mars, but also how you know, how
how Mars ended up, how it was, which we can
then use to help Earth. But those interplanetary missions are
something pretty special and I love to do those. But
as a as a as a as a kind of
where we'll be at in the next sort of five
to ten years and where we want to be. What
(17:46):
we're trying to build here is a very unique end
to end space company. So generally, you know, you're just
a launch company, or you're just a satellite company, or
sometimes you're just a services company. What we're trying to
build here is something there where it's completely end to end.
So a customer can come to us, or a government
can come to us and say, you know, there's the
(18:06):
only government can come to us and say, hey, we
need to look for illegal fisheries over the sub Antarctic,
and we just provide out of the service. They don't
need to become world experts in satellite construction and operation
and selecting launch vehicles and orbital mechanics. Nobody wants to
do that work except the rocket geeks. Actually, all is
(18:27):
a government in that sense. We'd care about is I
want to see if there's a ship there or not,
and that's ultimately where I think it all go.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Thanks for joining us, Peter. That said, for this episode
of the Front Page, you can read more about today's
stories and extensive news coverage at zat Herald dot co
dot z. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Seals
with sound engineer Patty Fox. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to
(18:57):
the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,
and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
Kielda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,
a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. In
May seventeen, rocket Lab launched its first rocket into space.
Over the last seven years, the company has grown to
become a powerhouse in the global aerospace industry and has
(00:30):
driven the growth of New Zealand's space sector. The company's
astronomical success has seen founder Peter Beck receive a knighthood
in the recent King's Birthday Honors. Ahead of the company's
fiftieth launch, Beck joins us today on the Front Page
to discuss how far he plans the company to soar
(00:52):
and why the sky isn't the limit for New Zealand.
I believe that there's a congrats in order. Are you
making everyone call you sir Peter now?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh, Jesse, No, no, not at all, it's just peak.
Thanks very much.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
And for those who may not know, I guess they've
been living under a rock. How would you explain what
rocket Lab does to someone on the street.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
So we design and build and launch rockets and also
satellites and spacecraft. So we launch a little rocket called
Electron and it's now the second most frequently launched US
rocket in fact, the fourth most frequently launched rocket in
the world, and we built spacecraft ranging from little missions
through to very large national security missions and even missions
(01:39):
to Mars.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
And you take it through from the design and obviously
working out the components stage right through to the launch.
That's pretty spectacular.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, So we're very unique in the fact that, you know,
we started off obviously in launching rockets, but now we
are a multinational end to end space company. So we'll
design a satellite for somebody, we'll launch a satellite for somebody,
will even operate that satellite, so we have the keys,
the tools, and then the.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Service that no time to lose mission? Am I pronouncing
that right?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
No time to lose? So we always have a little
bit of a play on the names. The rocket industry
is an incredibly serious industry, so we like to have
just a little bit of fun.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
N No Time to Loose mission is scheduled to launch
from Rocket Lab Launch Complex one today, June nineteenth. This
mission puts you on track to reach fifty launches faster
than any other company in history. How significance is.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
That, I think I think it's quite significant. Really, I mean,
everybody sees the rocket. But I guess what is less
obvious is all of the infrastructure and everything behind it.
And you know, it's well understood that your first rocket
is really really hard. Your twentieth rocket is like twenty
times harder than your first rocket because you have to
be in full production at that point. So reaching a
milestone of fifty flights, not many rockets have launched as
(02:58):
many as fifty times, let alone to do it the fastest,
I think a real testament to the team and to
the company.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
And what we're talking about today is a French company,
isn't it in terms of there's no time to lose mission?
What are they launching?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So they have a number of spacecraft. So this is
a first of five missions for us, and it's a
constellation of spacecraft, and each one of those launches is
going to a very specific plane, and each one of
those five launches delivers them to all those different planes.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
And what do they use that for? Like, how do
companies use that technology? Now that's in all bit.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Look, I'll give you a great example of two missions
we just launched FANASA in fact, and those two missions
were to measure the temperature radiating out of the South
and North Pole simultaneously, and by measuring that temperature, you
can determine how fast dice is melting and also the
sea rise and might surprise everybody that there is no
validated analytical model of sea rise. So you know, those
(03:52):
two satellites are providing the first actual data that we
have to measure it in any level of complexity. And look,
this is just a couple of fifty missions, right, And
you know there's a tremendous number of missions, whether it
be you know, science missions of climate change, missions like that,
missions for national security, or you know, we went to
the Moon two years ago, so really a huge span
(04:15):
of missions.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Just casually chucking in there that you've gone to the moon.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And I guess if we go back a few years
when you first launched rocket Lab in two thousand and six,
so to speak, did people think you were mental?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, there's certainly some questions asked, that's for sure. It
seemed an unlikely place to begin, I guess. But you know,
my dream as a kid was always to go and
work for NASA. That was the dream. And I got
to see that dream out, but in a slightly different way.
In the fact that we get to work with NASA
on a bunch of missions. So I got to work
(04:52):
with NASA rather than work in NASA. Yeah, so unlikely beginnings.
But you know, I've always said that New Zealanders full
of incredibly talented and bright engineers, and really in this game,
that's what it takes.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And I know that we've got the launch point down
in Mahia Peninsula. I know that you've faced backlash with
locals in the past about that launch site.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
On the outskirts of Mahya. A group of locals opposed
to Rocket Labs operations have set up a small protest
that was a recent payload for the US military that
galvanized as simmering discontent among some in the community.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Originally, I thought it was going to be a wonderful idea.
I thought that our babies can aspire to be rocket scientists.
But I've seen now that this is a big company
that is never going to put our needs.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
For where's the relationship now at between Rocket Lab and
those locals after fifty launches?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Now, yeah, I think it needs that needs to be
put in a little bit of context. I think, you know,
we have a wonderful relationship down in that community, and
in fact, a lot of that community is filled with
rock and lab people. And yeah, like anything, there's always
people that aren't supportive of it. So I think it's
an extreme view to say, you know, Tara whole community
with a few So, yeah, there's a few people that
don't enjoy what we do, but you know, we have
(06:16):
a vast majority of strong community support and the relationship
has always been great. You know, when we when we
first started to look for launch sites, I remember meeting,
you know, the representative of the landowners, you know, because
it's it's it's obviously Mari land, and they were looking
to diversify out of farming. And you know, they diversified
(06:37):
it out of farming very successfully and of course both
successfully and in many ways, including financially. And you know,
I think nobody expected the diversification to come in in
the terms of rockets, but nevertheless, you know, it's been
a it's been a great and continue to be a
great partnership.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Do you see any other parts of New Zealand that
could diversify like Mahia Peninsula has to the space sector.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, look, I mean the space industry isn't just launch
In fact, you know, two thirds of their business is
building satellites in spacecraft and that's kind of geographically agnostic.
And there's some great startups actually in New Zealand now,
great space startups, and we're really started to see an
ecosystem build, which is super exciting. So I think New
Zealand can contribute in the space industry. You know, like
(07:22):
I say, launch Away steals the show, but does a
tremendous amount of opportunity across the whole space sector. And
you're starting to see a number of little startups and
in even traditional companies play.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, it's quite exciting to see. Hey, we've spoken to
Space Minister Judith Collins just after she was overseas promoting
New Zealand space industry in the US. She told us
and New Zealand was number four last year in the
number of launches worldwide, after the US, Russia, and China.
How incredible was that?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah, I think I look as a proud TV I
think it's wonderful. And she's right, like America launches the
most amount of rockets, and it's China, then it's Russia,
and then it's the Maha Peninsula, then it's Europe and
in the air and so on and so forth. So no,
I think it's awesome and it shows where New Zealand
kind of sits in ranks in the international industry and
such a short amount of time.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Are you excited to see the real possibilities for New
Zealand when it comes to space.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Absolutely. I mean it's exactly the kind of thing that
New Zealand does really well, and that's kind of testament
to our success and been able to be successful in
scale in New Zealand and New Zealand, as I said before,
are incredibly smart. People, were very innovative and the ability
to kind of move across multiple functions and disciplines, which
is really important in space industry. So no, I look,
(08:40):
we've already seen a bunch of Rocket Lab has spin
out and start their own ventures, which I absolutely applaud
and support. Long may that continue. I think there's this
tremendous opportunity and it's one of those things that every
country has recognized the value of space and investing deeply
in it. I mean, it's kind of like the other AI.
I mean, there's Ais obviously the talk of all the conversations,
(09:02):
but equally, you know something that is scaling just as
fast as space.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
And it also seems like a lot of millionaires and
billionaires around the world are investing in space, like you've
got Jeff Bezos, elon Masker, Richard Branson. Do you think
that more money should be invested in tackling I guess
climate change and issues on this planet rather than exploring
out of space.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
I guess, well, I mean, yeah, it's two points. There
is one. You know, we often joke at two BIX
competitors are actually the two wealthiest people on this planet.
And for us, we don't have infinite capital, so we
have to be very smart and we model ourselves after
a famous Ernest Rutherford saying it, and that was he said,
we have no money, so we therefore we have to
think and like I say, we definitely have that as
(09:56):
the shining light within the company. But look, it's very
easy to focus on that as a narrative. But all
of the things that we use down on here on
Earth or so many of the things are enabled by
space and these technologies. Because they're hidden, people don't realize
how much they use them. GPS is the easy example
to call out, right, I mean, if we switched off
(10:17):
the GPS constellation tomorrow. You know, not only it's kind
of inconvenient when you want to use your phone to
get somewhere, but all of the other companies and systems
that are enabled by GPS stop like you know, aircraft navigation,
shipping navigation, whether or not your pizza turns up. You
go on and on and on, so that there's so
many things that people just don't realize are enabled by space.
(10:38):
And the more infrastructure that we can put in orbit,
the more improvement of life and improvement of capabilities you
can have down on here on Earth. And with respect
to climate change, I mean, we just launched two spacecraft
that are going to provide some of the most valuable
data and in climate change in a long time.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I've seen some conversations online around the kind of rivalry
I guess between Lab and space X. Obviously there are
a few competitors in the field. Is that kind of
like a Holden versus Ford kind of rivalry. I don't know,
I'm trying to context your lightst Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
No, Look, look I don't actually think it's a rivalry.
I mean, we all know each other and we will
respect each other for what each other has achieved. And
the one thing I'll say about the space industry is
that it's so immensely difficult to do that. When you
were able to achieve something, everybody else is able to go, Well,
that was really hard. And respect each brother's for each contribution.
(11:33):
So certainly we compete for contracts and for customers and
all of that, but it's a unique industry. At the
end of the day, when why someone else does something
truly amazing, all of the competitors are the first to
congratulate them. So it's unique in that sense.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Elon Musk's space x is leading the rocket launch market
here in the US, but one wizard investment bank or
warning that it's monopoly could well chalk this sector, and
it'squalt huge concern.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
We do see other companies rising.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
We see companies like rocket Lab, which I think is
going to ever ever more be on their heels.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And speaking of contracts, you've also signed a lot of
contracts with the US military, notably the half a billion
dollar contractor built eighteen space vehicles that was announced in
December last year. How much of rocket Lab's business now
comes from that US military and the wider defense relationship.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So to give your listens kind of some context in
the company. So it's about two thousand people in rocket Lab.
We have five different business units and five different states
in the US, one in Canada as well. And two
thirds of the business is focused towards space systems, so
that's you know, spacecraft and satellites, and one third of
the business is sort of focused on launch. And then
(12:54):
across the business about fifty percent of the business is
direct commercial, and then fifty center the business is kind
of government, and then that breaks up into defense and
also civil kind of work, meaning NASA, NOAH and the
government agencies that are non defense.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
In terms of those defense relationships, I guess would work
be done in New Zealand's backyard when it comes to.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
That, well, we certainly have launched defense customers. And you know,
the way that works is in order for us to
launch anything, there has to be a New Zealand launch
license granted, and it's actually granted by a minister, you know,
and there's a very very strict process that's applied through there,
including national interest tests, and it has to be signed
(13:42):
off by a whole bunch of government or organizations. So
you know, if a customer wants to launch out of
New Zealand. A defense customer wants to launch out of
New Zealand, then it's a New Zealand government that decides
whether or not that launches in the interest of all
of our values, all of our treaties and all of
those all of those things, and what we've launched a
data have been R and D platforms and experiments in
(14:06):
those kinds of things. And you know, as a company,
we have our own beliefs and rules, and you know,
we certainly don't do weapons and all those kinds of things.
But the reality is that space is it's called a
dual system kind of domain. GPS satellites we use an
example again, like all of our commercial products and things
(14:26):
are kind of enabled by GPS, but GPS is a
one hundred percent US government owned and operated military asset
in space. So there's a lot of dual use that
goes on between these things in orbit.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
That's really interesting that the government has such a hand on,
especially those defense relationships. Basically, you're not down there chucking
up anything you want into the atmosphere. And I guess
in that sense it would be quite a process if
the US military, say wanted to ever engage in nuclear
related launchers on New Zealand soil, for example, Well, that
simply wouldn't be possible.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I mean, like I say, there is a whole process
that goes through many, many different departments and hands and
it's signed off by a minister. So that just simply
would not be possible because I mean it would be
in conflict with New Zealand's own rules and regulations and
international treaties.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
So, Peter, with the government touting its success in the
space industry here rightly, so, is there anything more that
could be done or should be done to support New
Zealand space industry or are you satisfied with how things
are privately run without the government support or intervention at
the moment.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
No, I think the Space Agency definitely has a role
to play. If you look at NASA as a space agency.
So fifty percent of NASA's kind of role or remit
if you will, is to fund human spaceflight and fund
scientific missions and discovery and all of that. The other
fifty percent is to inspire people to pursue careers in
(15:52):
STEM and higher education and things like that. And this
is where space has a kind of an almost outsized
hand to play. Because you know, we do a lot
of kind of community where it can. We've done a
lot of school visits and things like that, and you
can take the most disengaged kids sitting at the back
of the room and give them something that's been to orbit,
(16:13):
that they've held in their hands, it's been to space,
and watch their eyes sparkle. So it has the ability
to reach people in a totally different people and I
think that's where you know, space agencies in the New
Zealand Space Agency has a really important role to play
and look great, if they want to come and work
for us at rocket Lab, we've got hundreds of jobs opening,
that'd be great. But equally well, if it inspires them
(16:36):
to go into a mathematical career or in you know,
computer science or whatever, then I think that's exactly what
we need to be convincing our kids to can't do.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Oh, there's absolutely a question that space is cool, everyone thinks.
So looking to the future, what are you most excited
about in the space industry and is there anything that
you want to see rocket Lab doing? I guess you know,
a man commission to Mars or reach for the stars.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, yeah, so you know there's a couple of things there.
So one, I'm very passionate about interplanetary and interplanetary science.
So you know, we have two satellites that are headed
to Mars at the the end of this year Vanessa
to measure a whole lot of magnetic field information and
data around around the Red planet. So you know, the
(17:25):
findings of that are going to be not only just
enormous to understand Mars, but also how you know, how
how Mars ended up, how it was, which we can
then use to help Earth. But those interplanetary missions are
something pretty special and I love to do those. But
as a as a as a as a kind of
where we'll be at in the next sort of five
to ten years and where we want to be. What
(17:46):
we're trying to build here is a very unique end
to end space company. So generally, you know, you're just
a launch company, or you're just a satellite company, or
sometimes you're just a services company. What we're trying to
build here is something there where it's completely end to end.
So a customer can come to us, or a government
can come to us and say, you know, there's the
(18:06):
only government can come to us and say, hey, we
need to look for illegal fisheries over the sub Antarctic,
and we just provide out of the service. They don't
need to become world experts in satellite construction and operation
and selecting launch vehicles and orbital mechanics. Nobody wants to
do that work except the rocket geeks. Actually, all is
(18:27):
a government in that sense. We'd care about is I
want to see if there's a ship there or not,
and that's ultimately where I think it all go.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Thanks for joining us, Peter. That said, for this episode
of the Front Page, you can read more about today's
stories and extensive news coverage at zat Herald dot co
dot z. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Seals
with sound engineer Patty Fox. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to
(18:57):
the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,
and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
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