This was originally published in the Anti-Bases Campaign's Peace Researcher 58, November 2019. Ed.

Rocket Lab was originally touted as a shining example of Kiwi innovation. It continues to be so touted, under the present Jacinda Ardern government. But, in fact, it is now simply the NZ subsidiary of an American company, one with major ownership by Lockheed Martin, the world's biggest weapons manufacturer (including of nuclear weapons).

Satellite Launches From Mahia Peninsula

Rocket Lab's clients, whose payloads it launches into space from its Mahia Peninsula facility (between Wairoa and Gisborne, on the North Island's east coast), include a whole range of US military, intelligence and surveillance agencies. Those payloads are satellites but new generation ones, much smaller than previous generations of satellites. It is directly contributing to the militarisation of space. A central theme of Trump's Presidency is that the US must be able to "dominate space" and wage war in, and from, space.

So, let's call it for what it is - a US facility for the US military and spies on NZ soil. As such, it is as much a base as the Waihopai spy base, which has been of great interest to the Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC) for more than 30 years. More so actually, as Waihopai is nominally a "New Zealand" spy base, operated by the NZ Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), which is a State spy agency. Rocket Lab is both American-owned and privately-owned, so it is a corporate contractor to the US military and intelligence empire.

Unlike its rockets, Rocket Lab itself and the truly alarming nature of what it does, and for whom, has tended to fly under the radar. As per yet there is no campaign targeting Rocket Lab and its NZ launch base (it also has a tracking station on the Chatham Islands, way off to the east of the NZ mainland). That will hopefully change as the New Zealand people find out the true story. Some have led the way to alert us to this outfit. None more so than regular Peace Researcher writer, the indefatigable Dennis Small. Ironically, Dennis has written more on the subject in the other publication which I edit, namely Foreign Control Watchdog.

For example: "A current egregious example of badly misplaced technological exuberance is the enthusiasm currently demonstrated in Parliament by MPs for what is being promoted as NZ's new space industry. For instance, on 20/6/17, Parliament had its second reading of the Outer-Space and High-Altitude Activities Bill, instrumental in launching the legal and logistical support framework for the US aerospace corporation Rocket Lab in Aotearoa/NZ".

"The Bill provides licensing and regulatory legislation for this American transnational corporation, which aims at putting customers' satellites into orbit. The company has a NZ subsidiary. Indeed, New Zealander Peter Beck, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Technical Officer (CTO), has been the company's guiding light since its launch. Beck actually founded the company in 2006".

"MPs celebrated the passage of this Bill as expressive and symbolic of NZ's embrace of high-tech industry and engineering. Yet, along with American global venture funds Khosla Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, Lockheed Martin is also an investor (Rocket Lab, Wikipedia). Lockheed Martin is 'the world's largest defence contractor', getting 78% of its revenues from military sales, and receiving nearly 10% of the funds paid out by the Pentagon (Lockheed Martin, Wikipedia)".

Greens Enthusiastic About It

"It was quite extraordinary to see the Green Party so enthusiastic about NZ becoming the 11th country joining the space industry (Parliament TV, 20/6/17). MP Gareth Hughes, who is usually on the ball about environmental issues, waxed lyrical about Rocket Lab and NZ becoming a participant in exploiting space. Like so many other MPs exhibiting the toys for boys' ethos, Hughes saw this foreign investment as tapping into, and fostering NZ ingenuity, research, and development; and, of course, 'entrepreneurialism' in vital high-tech engineering industry".

"He said it was 'one of the most enjoyable Bills' to work on; and that it was 'incredible', 'exciting', and 'fantastic' (ibid.). To be sure, he was over the Moon about it! Meantime, the technocratic pollution of space increases with so much man-made space junk and debris. The political Establishment and the media are jointly promoting Rocket Lab as 'a nationalistic kind of achievement' and extolling the 'space economy as the way to go (e.g. 'Peter Beck: Space Pioneer', Press, 1/7/17)". The Green Party has been silent about Rocket Lab since it entered into partnership with the Labour/New Zealand First Coalition government, which came to power at the 2017 election. Ed.

"But all this enthusiasm for a space industry in Aotearoa/NZ not only violates sound environmental principles, it displays a stunning naivety and ignorance about the global reach of the US military machine. Not only is Rocket Lab now an American TNC, it is also a fast track for integrating NZ deeper into the US military-industrial complex ("Corporate Conditioning Neo-Liberal Conformity: Mainstream Media Inc And Co", Dennis Small, Watchdog 145, August 2017).

And, from Watchdog 148, August 2018 (Dennis Small, "From 'Big Bang' Space Race To Trashing The Planet: The Struggle Against The Global Corporates"): "Peter Beck was instrumental in founding Rocket Lab in 2006 ('10 Things About Rocket Lab', NBR, 27/5/17). It did not take long before Rocket Lab got involved in the American military-industrial complex".

DARPA

"'In 2010, Rocket Lab worked on a project for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA - the US Department of Defense agency that gave the world the Internet. The DARPA contract involved 'a viscous liquid monopropellant (VLM) fuel that was thixotropic - neither a solid or a liquid... 'the result of this work was demonstrated to US military clients in 2012' (ibid.)".

"So, a key project in Rocket Lab's early development was for DARPA, an outfit central to the structure and functioning of the US military-industrial complex, an outfit paving the way to Armageddon. Rocket Lab cultivated further links with American capital, its military, and space industry. In 2013, it got backing from Silicon Valley billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. Khosla Ventures' investment level, along with others, has never been disclosed (ibid.)".

"Rocket Lab has come to specialise in firing off Electron rockets to launch small satellites relatively cheaply, and, so, able to compete in the emerging market for such launches. After Khosla & co., it went on to hook up with the world's biggest armaments firm. "In 2014, another funding round saw US military and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin invest in Rocket Lab, along with Bessemer Ventures, and more money from Khosla and (Sir Stephen) Tindall" (ibid.)".

"Rocket Lab, heartily cheered on by the NZ political Establishment and the media, was due to make its first commercial launch in July 2018 from Mahia Peninsula, Hawke's Bay (for background see 'Today Is A Huge Win: The World Responds To Rocket Lab Launch', NZ Herald, 22/1/18)".

The gushing adulation of Rocket Lab by the political and media Establishment is encapsulated in this quote, also picked up by Dennis: "If we had another 50 of him ('entrepreneur' Peter Beck), and another 50 of Rocket Labs (now a US-owned and military-oriented company), we would be sweet!" (TVNZ's Q & A presenter Corin Dann, 20/5/18).

"She'll Be Right" Attitude

An extremely good and more recent analysis of Rocket Lab was written by Ollie Neas in The Spinoff, ("'She'll Be Right' Attitude To Rocket Lab Putting Nuclear Free NZ At Risk, Experts Say": 17/05/19):

"Before the first rocket took off from Mahia Peninsula on the East Coast two years ago (in 2017), MPs considered whether they should clarify that New Zealand's new space industry would be strictly for peaceful purposes. Politicians from across the spectrum championed the proposed law enabling rocket launches, and welcomed the new era of high-tech business and scientific research that was about to begin".

"But some MPs noticed a problem. Much of the technology central to space launches - from the rockets themselves to the payloads they carried - could be used to support military activities as easily as they could socially useful purposes, such as researching climate change or combating illegal fishing in the Pacific. One solution they considered was to include the words 'non-military' in the law's purposes provision. Another was to specify that launches must be for 'peaceful purposes'. But MPs decided that such wording could rule out obviously useful technology like GPS (global positioning system), which is run by the US Air Force".

"Instead, a compromise was reached. 'Peaceful purposes' would be replaced with a reference to New Zealand's international obligations that it not put nuclear weapons in orbit or test weapons on celestial bodies. Although close observers might have spotted that this left a gap through which all kinds of military activities might slip, for many of the MPs who took to their feet in the House the fundamental objective of the legislation was clear".

"'The intention is with this legislation that it be non-military', said Labour MP David Parker, who a year later would become the Minister responsible for New Zealand's space regime. Two years on New Zealand has emerged as an established launch site for US military clients, with the majority of launches so far carrying payloads for the US Department of Defense. Documents obtained by The Spinoff reveal that as MPs reassured themselves of the law's peaceful intent, the Government was already considering requests for launches in potential contravention of that".

"Ministerial briefings show that since at least May 2017 the Government - first National, and then the new Labour coalition - has been planning for launches on behalf of US military and security agencies. The launches are welcomed as deepening New Zealand's security collaboration with the Trump Administration. Meanwhile, officials have warned of the likely pushback if the public learned of the true nature of these activities".

NRO; US Special Ops Command; Secret Client; Et Al

"Because of this risk officials advised the Government to develop a joint communications strategy with Rocket Lab around US government payloads, highlighting the benefits to New Zealand and limiting public disclosure of the details. These launches are set to continue and may even include launches for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), one of the US's most important intelligence agencies. While Rocket Lab and Government officials continue to emphasise the civilian benefits of its rockets, experts warn that New Zealand may be adopting a dangerous 'she'll be right' attitude to its new space industry".

"Two launches have carried payloads for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, the Pentagon agency that conducts cutting-edge research for the US military. A third was for the US Air Force and US Army Space and Missile Defense Command. A recently announced fifth launch will carry a payload for US Special Operations Command, a wing of the US Department of Defense that undertakes covert missions around the world".

"Terry Johanson, a lecturer in Defence and Security Studies at Massey University and a retired major in the New Zealand Defence Force, says that these cargoes appear to be laying the groundwork for the proposed US Space Force, which Donald Trump announced last year (2018). 'The payloads they're sending up there, to track ballistic missiles from China and Russia, to create a communication web in space and to track debris and objects in orbit, are setting up the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance side of their Space Force', he says".

"The first of the DARPA payload seeks to improve the performance of a kind of radar that can detect missiles and stealth aircraft, while the second DARPA mission is aimed at testing an antenna intended for missile defence, among other uses. The US Air Force launch includes a payload that will capture imagery allowing the US Army to test synthetic aperture radar, a surveillance and reconnaissance tool that enables images to be captured in the dark and through cloud. This technology has also been tied to space-based missile defence systems".

"The recently announced Prometheus payload for US Special Operations Command is a reconnaissance satellite to support special operations missions. Future similar launches seem likely. In September (2018) the head of the New Zealand Space Agency, Peter Crabtree, met with officials from the National Reconnaissance Office in Virginia to discuss the New Zealand regulatory process, according to itineraries obtained by The Spinoff. The NRO is one of the five major US intelligence agencies".

Suspicions deepened when Rocket Lab refused to reveal the identity of one of its seven clients during a June 2019 launch window for satellites, citing that old favourite - "commercial sensitivity" (Press, 19/6/19, Tom Pullar-Strecker, "Secret Client For Rocket Lab").

It Makes NZ A Target In Other People's Wars

Another very informative article is "Launching Into Trouble", by a writer identified only as Pablo, on Kiwi Politico (7/05/2019): "With regard to legal matters, it is worth asking what legal framework is in place governing the use of NZ assets and soil for foreign military satellite launches. Foreign military deployments in NZ are governed by formal agreements, as are NZ Defence Force (NZDF) deployments on foreign lands in support of bilateral or multilateral missions".

"Exports of sensitive, dedicated or potential 'dual use' (civilian and military) technologies by NZ companies require special export licenses and, in some cases, prohibitions apply to said exports to specific countries. But what is the framework governing foreign military use of NZ-based launchers? As far as I know neither the NZDF or any other Government agency have been part of a foreign military satellite launch in NZ, so there is no legal precedent for specifying the terms and conditions governing that activity, much less launches conducted by a NZ-based private firm on behalf of a foreign military partner".

"That matters because launches of foreign military non-weaponised payloads, even if they involve signals and technical intelligence gathering technologies, are largely non-controversial and can be covered under the rubric of 'scientific research' in any event. But without specific clauses in NZ law prohibiting the launch of foreign military weapons platforms from NZ soil and/or by NZ companies, the field is open for that to happen".

"With space weapons platforms undergoing the miniaturisation mania that has impacted all aspects of combat from drones to autonomous infantry fighting machines, it is only a matter of when, not if they will be deployed (if they have not been already. India and China have both recently tested satellite-killing probes against low Earth orbit [LEO] targets and Russia and USA have long had larger sized offensive hunter-killer satellites tracking each other's military communications space platforms, even if these are little more than 'dumb' bombs that are guided into the target in order to destroy it). So, the scene is set for the eventual deployment of space weaponry from NZ territory".

"The question is whether there is a legal basis to permit or prohibit foreign military satellites, especially weaponised satellites, being launched from NZ soil with NZ technologies. I am unsure if that is the case one way or another and have heard of no Parliamentary or Ministerial discussion of the matter. Amid all of the applause for Rocket Lab there has been no pause given to consider the implications of its partnership with a foreign military, albeit a friendly one".

This article concludes that Rocket Lab's Mahia Peninsula launch site becomes a "potential target", meaning that New Zealand itself becomes a target. "Small satellites are difficult to target once deployed, so space warfare planners in countries that have the ability to do so and are antagonistic to Rocket Lab's foreign military client/'sponsors' will aim to prevent their deployment from the Mahia Peninsula. That means that they have likely added Launch Complex 1 to their potential target 'packages' in the event that great power hostilities break out on Earth or in space".

"As it turns out, the low cost and quick launch capabilities offered by the Electron booster also make it a great choice for rapidly replacing military satellites of all kinds when lost to hostile action, so prudent military planners will ensure that Rocket Lab's vehicles do not get off the ground should push comes to shove. And given that NZ air space and launch sites are less defended than similar territory in larger countries, the relative ease of launching pre-emptive or follow up strikes on Launch Complex 1 encourages its targeting by adversaries of Rocket Lab's foreign military partners".

"That means, of course, that NZ could be drawn into a land/space war in which it is not a principal but where its soil and facilities are used by one or another party to the hostilities. So, the bottom line is this: does NZ have any control over or even say in who and what Rocket Lab gets to work with? Is there any contingency plan in place for the possibility that association with a foreign military in commercial space ventures could lead to the uninvited and untoward intervention of another foreign military power on NZ soil?".

Rocket Lab Is An American Company

And it needs to be made clear that Rocket Lab is not a New Zealand company, as it is misleadingly represented by its cheerleaders in the Government (from the Prime Minister down) and media. It certainly started off as one but that was then and this is now (actually it's been now for quite a long time). Rocket Lab is now merely the NZ subsidiary of an American company. Here is a succinct summary:

"It took some of the gloss off Rocket Lab's first commercial flight when I saw a CNN report describing the company as 'a scrappy American startup'. The New York Times and Forbes have also claimed Rocket Lab as an American company, while the BBC called it a 'US startup'. Our Kiwi ingenuity success story has been claimed by the Yanks. And the annoying bit is they do have a point. There is constant background noise about Rocket Lab's ownership".

"When I suggested on social media that it would be better for New Zealand's image if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle toured Rocket Lab's new Auckland plant rather than go gumboot throwing, Auckland man Vaughn Davis shot back, 'Dude, they're British royal family so why would they tour a US company?' When I asked Peter Beck whether his company was Kiwi or American, he didn't shirk from waving the Stars and Stripes".

"'Look, we've been an American company and proud of it for many years', he said. 'The New Zealand element is very important and very special to us but we never tried to hide the fact we're a US company and this is where New Zealand companies go wrong in the fact that if you want to be a large, successful global company, it's very difficult to be that out of New Zealand'. He added, 'Instead of lamenting the fact we've lost a company from New Zealand, we should be celebrating the fact that a company has got so large that it needs to go global'".

"Rocket Lab is now incorporated in the US, and its rockets are made at its Huntington Beach, California, factory, which is much larger than its recently opened assembly plant in Auckland. And yet, most of Rocket Lab's 200+ staff are in New Zealand, and half of its 180 hires in the year ahead will be in NZ - all high-value jobs. The company did just name its first launch site in the US (NASA's Wallops Launch Facility in the US state of Virginia) and Beck says it's actively scouting for a site in the UK, with one in Asia to possibly follow".

"But he adds that as Rocket Lab chases a $3b+ pipeline of satellite launches over the next four years and ramps up to weekly flights, Mahia Peninsula will remain its highest frequency launch site. Our relatively liberal regulatory environment helps, Beck says, but it's mainly because our airways and shipping lanes are, by international standards, nearly empty".

"R&D (research and development) is based in New Zealand, and Beck plans to keep it here (which is good, given taxpayers have chipped in via Crown agency Callaghan Innovation, which has provided matching R&D funding worth up to $25m). And all flights, wherever in the world, will be wrangled from the company's new mission control centre in Auckland" (Newstalk ZB, 13/11/18, Chris Keall, "Is Rocket Lab Even A New Zealand Company?").

To add insult to injury, the New Zealand public has had its money put into this American-owned contractor for the US military and spies, via a shareholding stake bought in 2018 by ACC (the Accident Compensation Corporation). Whatever happened to the need for such NZ public funds to only make ethical investments? What is ethical about profiting from the militarisation of space and assisting the US to wage war both in, and from, space?

Worried About Protestors

The powers that be are acutely sensitive to the "risks" posed to Rocket Lab by any protests. Here's a couple of quotes from Ollie Neas' Spinoff article cited above ("'She'll Be Right' Attitude To Rocket Lab Putting Nuclear Free NZ At Risk, Experts Say": 17/05/19):

"In the May 2017 briefing to (National Minister Simon) Bridges, the (Government's) NZ Space Agency suggested the Government should convey to the US that it was pleased the new space industry 'will enable us to broaden and deepen our security collaboration'. Bridges was also advised that one of the risks was the reaction of the New Zealand public".

"'Certain groups are opposed to New Zealand's security relationship with the US, and it is possible that such groups would be motivated to disrupt launches if they were aware that US government security payloads were being launched from New Zealand,' the briefing says" (emphasis added). And: (Labour Minister David) 'Parker says he's comfortable with the degree of disclosure around US government launches, and that the Space Agency is developing a process for the proactive release of payload information. The Space Agency's own advice indicates this is a fragile peace".

"'Even a single protestor could have a disproportionate effect on space launch activities from New Zealand', one briefing says. This risk can be managed, but only to an extent" (emphasis added). Enough said. Let's start the conversation about what to do about it. As is the case with the Waihopai spy base, Rocket Lab's Mahia Peninsula launch site is in a remote location.

(As an aside, it is worth noting that the original plan was to locate it on Birdlings Flat, near Christchurch. That would have been far more convenient for the elderly protestors of the Christchurch-based Anti-Bases Campaign. But despite parochial Canterbury boosterism for it, the company set up on the east coast of the North Island, not the east coast of the South). However, this is a company that also has a mission control centre and assembly plant in our biggest city, Auckland (Levene Place, Mount Wellington, to be precise). So, come on people, let's get stuck in to close down this privately-owned, American-owned contractor of the US military and spies on New Zealand soil.