Rocket lab used to be a New Zealand source of pride, having started there. From the press release, now it’s American. What happened?
Rocket lab used to be a New Zealand source of pride, having started there. From the press release, now it’s American. What happened?
It was always an American company. In order to launch rockets from countries in the US sphere of influence (even from NZ), companies must obtain an FAA license.
Rocket technology itself is so intensely regulated by US export control laws that it’s practically impossible to develop an orbital launch vehicle without being a US- or Europe-registered company.
It is a real shame. It also looks like a lot of engineering work is shifting away from NZ — Auckland seems to be focusing more on operations and space systems, and the launch stuff is moving to the US with Neutron.
Why do people reply with this "it was always american" response? Do you feel like it is necessary to protect RocketLab or something?
It was founded by a guy in new zealand with the first launch complex and first launches coming out of new zealand.
to characterize that as "always american" is so silly it makes you seem like a non serious person.
of course they would have had american resources and connections from the start.
Before they ever launched a rocket they were a primarily American company. That literally just a fact.
It was created by somebody from New Zealand and a lot of early operations was in New Zealand nobody is denying that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lab#United_States_move_...
Needs access to American capital markets, contracts, governance structures, and jurisdiction (applicable law).
SpaceX previously said that are not allowed to hire foreign nationals generally.
So guess NASA told Rocket that if they want American contracts, they need to move?
https://qz.com/794101/elon-musk-explains-why-he-doesnt-hire-...
at least it's still got a bunch of Kiwi engineers building the Rutherford engine.
Capital probably, market access. It is pretty hard to raise capital for high risk ventures like that everywhere in the world other than the US.
same thing that always happens to companies, money
It sure doesn't help that New Zealand's housing market is one of the most unaffordable in the world.
Compared to LA even NZ looks cheap