Five-launch deal secures Māhia launch site

The Rocket Lab space port on Māhia Peninsula. Picture supplied

Space company Rocket Lab looks set to continue operating from its Māhia space port for probably the remainder of the decade at least, after announcing a new five-launch deal.

This week the United States-based company announced it had signed another block buy deal for five Electron launches with BlackSky, a leading provider of real-time geospatial intelligence and global monitoring services, which it sells on a subscription basis to  US and international government agencies, commercial businesses, and organisations around the world.

“After four years of launching for BlackSky, we’re delighted to continue our partnership with more dedicated launches on Electron,” Rocket Lab founder and chief Peter Beck said.

The launches are expected to begin in 2024 from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on Māhia Peninsula.

“The Gen-3 satellites will integrate seamlessly with the rest of the constellation, meeting the imagery and analytics requirements in support of day-to-day operations for defence and intelligence organisations worldwide,” a BlackSky spokesman told The Gisborne Herald yesterday.

“Gen-3 satellites will have the ability to capture images up to 35cm in resolution, with novel short wave infrared capabilities.

“Rocket Lab has been a BlackSky launch partner since 2019 and once we complete these five new launches it will bring the total to 11. The value Rocket Lab brings to BlackSky is agile launch capability as we replenish, replace, and expand on-orbit capacity, introduce Gen-3 capabilities, and further enable BlackSky to meet the demands of the most time-dominant missions.”

The timing of the launches indicate Rocket Lab will be extending its stay at Onenui Station, where  it has its Launch Complex 1 facility.

The original lease with Onenui Station extends for 20 years. with rights of renewal gates every three years within that. The first of those was due in November 2024.

“We intend to be operating Launch Complex 1 well beyond 2024,” Rocket Lab senior communications director Morgan Bailey said yesterday.

However, there were no plans to expand on the site’s two launch pads.

“Launch Complex 1 remains our primary launch site and we expect the launch cadence to continue increasing into 2024, but we have no additional expansion plans currently beyond our existing footprint in Mahia.”

Earlier this week Rocket Lab’s latest quarterly financial report stated the US-based company had received $US22.5m from three launches, two of which were from Māhia. Rocket Lab expects launch services revenue of approximately $US30 million for the third quarter of the year.

That brings the total launch revenue for Rocket Lab to $US42.1m for the first six months of the year.