A group that staged an “unwelcome party” protest outside the NZ Aerospace Summit 2023 today is promising “direct action” tomorrow morning - the second day of the two-day event.
Summit organisers sent an email warning of delays and bag searches after a protest group, Rocket Lab Watch, said on Friday it would stage an “unwelcome party” today, with unspecified “direct action” promised for the second day of the summit tomorrow.
“The [Rocket Lab Māhia] launch pad and control centre in Auckland are essentially military installations, and if the Government won’t restrict their activities, then it is up to citizens to do so,” a Rocket Lab Watch release stated.
“Throughout recent history, it is when citizens start damaging property that elected representatives start taking the issues seriously. This time seems to have arrived.”
The summit is staged at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, alongside the Smart Christchurch Innovation Expo in the same venue. Organisers say the expo drew a crowd of some 4000 on its opening day on Sunday. Today, the expo was mobbed with school kids, while various industry professionals gathered for the summit next door.
“We will assess the situation tomorrow to determine what the best tactics are going to be. We practice non-violent direct action,” a protest spokesman told the Herald ahead of the “unwelcome party” protest in front of Te Pae.
Today’s protest was led by Space For Peace Aotearoa, while the property damage comments came from the Māhia-based Rocket Lab Watch. The Space for Peace contingent said it was up to Rocket Lab Watch to speak to its property damage comments; the Māhia group was not represented as the picketing kicked off.
Veteran protester John Minto - wearing a “Free Palestine” T-shirt - took to a loud hailer to say, “Rocket Lab started out as a Kiwi company, a great bit of Kiwi ingenuity, and everybody applauded it. But it’s become part of the US military establishment. It’s been bought out by the Americans. And most of the payloads it’s sending into space are on behalf of the US military.”
Rocket Lab, which listed on the Nasdaq in 2021, has a number of major military contracts from various US and Australian agencies (see list below). And the Kiwi-American firm received crucial funding from the US government’s Darpa (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) in its early days, and has around $34 million in current funding from the US Air Force’s new Space Force wing for R&D work on the upper stage of Rocket Lab’s new, much larger Neutron rocket, scheduled for its first launch next year.
The protest was small, with fewer than 10 participants - watched by three police officers - but the property damage threat prompted a sharp reaction from Rocket Lab and event organisors - who also took issue with the protesters’ broader themes.
“It’s disappointing to see the spread of misinformation and the incitement of destruction,” Rocket Lab communications director Morgan Bailey told the Herald.
“New Zealand is reliant on national security and military satellites for defence purposes and everyday life.
“They play a crucial role in providing communications, information gathering and situational awareness to New Zealand forces around the world and at home, including during natural disasters to enable humanitarian relief efforts.
“For example, the NZDF’s [New Zealand Defence Force] response and rescue efforts in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle’s devastation were enabled by space systems, including navigation, satellite imagery and communications.
“Space-based systems like GPS, which is operated by the military, are also vital for enabling things like commercial air travel, international shipping and freight, agriculture, Google Maps, and even bank transactions.
“Rocket Lab does not and will not launch weapons. Not only is this something we have committed to as a company, but it also against the law in New Zealand to launch any payloads or satellites of this nature.”
Rocket Lab Watch also said, “Government commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industry are lies, given the hundreds of millions spent supporting a new industry with high emissions from launches, but no information collected on the emissions produced by the sector.”
“An Electron launch emits less CO2 than most commercial airplane flights, of which there are thousands every year,” Bailey said. The firm has not released emissions data but plans to do so later this year.
“In addition, the satellites Rocket Lab launches provide vital data to scientists conducting climate research. For example, we recently launched the Tropics satellite constellation for Nasa, which tracks cyclone intensity in real-time to provide advance warning and better forecasting to people in the path of devastating storms. Rocket Lab has also been selected to launch two satellites tasked with monitoring Arctic warming, sea ice loss, ice sheet melt and sea level rise,” Bailey said.
The summit organisers, non-profit Aerospace New Zealand, said they recognised the group’s right to peacefully protest.
“However, it is deeply disappointing that a small group of demonstrators are stating intent to damage property,” a spokeswoman said.
“Any emerging industry and innovation has implications for the wider community, and this summit seeks to create a safe space for those to be discussed.
“The theme of this year’s summit is ‘Launching a Sustainable Future’. Aerospace companies provide core services that we use in our day-to-day lives, and today is an important opportunity to consider how we grow this high-value sector sustainably and with the next generation in mind.
“The space sector alone is worth $1.69 billion to the New Zealand economy [according to a Deloitte report for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE)] and has the potential to grow further, creating high-wage jobs and capability into the future,” the summit spokeswoman said.
“Rocket Lab is an important participant in the New Zealand market and is meeting Government policy and regulatory requirements. We have many New Zealand-based companies involved in some aspect of space and advanced-aviation innovation - there are 12,000 people who work supporting the sector. All these voices have a right to be heard.”
At a recent investor presentation, Rocket Lab outlined its defence contracts, which included:
All local Rocket Lab launches have been signed off by the minister in charge of the NZ Space Agency (Barbara Edmonds, by dint of being minister in charge of MBIE, within which our Space Agency sits; see the Herald’s Official Information Act request for documentation around the Gunsmoke-J mission for an example of the mission approval process).
The NZSA and the minister apply both safety and national interest tests.
The national interest test includes trade and environmental treaties, but is also applied in the context of the space defence accord New Zealand signed with Canada, the UK, Germany, France and Australia in February 2022.
The signatories described themselves as partners in national security space operations, prepared to protect and defend against hostile space activities in accordance with relevant international law.
Founder and CEO Peter Beck has said a key reason for its new LaunchPad 2 in Virgina, and building and launching the Neutron in the same state, is US government clients want local launches. The firm recently formed a wholly-owned subsidiary to focus exclusively on military and intelligence work.
However much cut-through the protesters get, the new Rocket Lab unit is registered in the US, and will only operate in the US - putting it largely beyond the reach of our regulators.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
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