6 ms·

Rocket lab used to be a New Zealand source of pride, having started there. From the press release, now it’s American. What happened?

ericmay 3mo ago
Needs access to American capital markets, contracts, governance structures, and jurisdiction (applicable law).
ortusdux 3mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lab#United_States_move_(2013%E2%80%932020) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lab#United_States_move_...
MyelinatedT 3mo ago
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.
- jackmott42 3mo ago
  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.
  - panick21_ 3mo ago
    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.
    - versteegen 3mo ago
      That is false. They were a purely NZ operation launching sub-orbital rockets before they got into DARPA contracts. What you meant to say is "Before they ever launched Electron", and I'm pretty sure that is false too, they weren't "primarily" American, the majority of the workforce was in NZ until years after that.
      - panick21_ 3mo ago
        I'm 99% sure that they went to the US venture to raise money to build Electron and that's when they made the US company that primary and the NZ company the subsidiary.
        deleted 3mo ago
        [deleted]
        versteegen 3mo ago
        Yes you are correct. That's one meaning of primary. I just think it's misleading by the more colloquial meaning to say "primarily a US company" when AFAIK basically all the engineering happened in the NZ subsidiary of what was initially more-or-less a USA shell company. Engine manufacture was the first thing they moved to the USA that I know of, after one or two launches IIRC. Aside, Peter Beck has said (probably at a talk I was at in 2014) that they initially designed and built Electron in NZ so that they would be importing restricted technology into the USA, to minimise ITAR problems, which only covers exports.
      - inemesitaffia 3mo ago
        SpaceX has most staff in California. It's a Texas company.
elzbardico 3mo ago
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.
micromacrofoot 3mo ago
same thing that always happens to companies, money
khurs 3mo ago
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-much-foreign-talent-at-spacex https://qz.com/794101/elon-musk-explains-why-he-doesnt-hire-...
bell-cot 3mo ago
It sure doesn't help that New Zealand's housing market is one of the most unaffordable in the world.
- rr808 3mo ago
  Compared to LA even NZ looks cheap
  - seattle_spring 3mo ago
    How about when compared to income potential?
y0ssar1an 3mo ago
at least it's still got a bunch of Kiwi engineers building the Rutherford engine.
generuso 3mo ago
They do not like to talk about it too much in public these days, but Rocket Lab had somewhat shady beginnings. Once they moved past the semi-amateur phase, their first real project was weapons development on a DARPA contract. They were working on a paste-like semi-solid fuel for throttleable engines for munitions, and other similar things. That pushed their main NZ investor away, and they somehow hooked up with the US intelligence community, which facilitated a rather unique series of inter-government arrangements for launching US reconnaissance satellites from NZ. That was probably always the appeal -- to launch over China with very little warning. A cheap, rapidly launchable vehicle was always a dream of the US agencies -- in 2003 this was FALCON program (Force Application and Launch from CONUS) run by DARPA and the Air Force, and today it is the Space Force's "Victus". So, although the bulk of work was done in NZ, Rocket Lab functioned rather intimately with the US spooks from the very early on, including getting some funding from In-Q-Tel. Then in 2013, for the bulk of investment they just had to become a Delaware Corporation, for all the usual reasons. Very soon they moved engine manufacturing to a facility in California. More recently, with the large rocket (Neutron), their main manufacturing operations are in LA and the launch facility in Wallops. All in all, they are an international outfit.
postingawayonhn 3mo ago
They still have significant NZ design, manufacturing, and launch operations. For regulatory and capital raising reasons the parent company has been US based for quite a few years now. They've also been on a multi-year acquisitions spree and picked up quite a large US workforce through that.
JumpCrisscross 3mo ago
> What happened? ITAR. (From what I remember, Beck really tried to avoid it. But there isn’t a competitive solution for a New Zealand-based aerospace company.)
didntknowyou 3mo ago
it needed to be American to get all their defense contracts. the kiwi connection was just PR, and to access local launch sites.

ericmay 3mo ago

Needs access to American capital markets, contracts, governance structures, and jurisdiction (applicable law).

ortusdux 3mo ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lab#United_States_move_(2013%E2%80%932020) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lab#United_States_move_...

MyelinatedT 3mo ago

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.

jackmott42 3mo ago
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.
- panick21_ 3mo ago
  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.
  - versteegen 3mo ago
    That is false. They were a purely NZ operation launching sub-orbital rockets before they got into DARPA contracts. What you meant to say is "Before they ever launched Electron", and I'm pretty sure that is false too, they weren't "primarily" American, the majority of the workforce was in NZ until years after that.
    - panick21_ 3mo ago
      I'm 99% sure that they went to the US venture to raise money to build Electron and that's when they made the US company that primary and the NZ company the subsidiary.
      - deleted 3mo ago
        [deleted]
      - versteegen 3mo ago
        Yes you are correct. That's one meaning of primary. I just think it's misleading by the more colloquial meaning to say "primarily a US company" when AFAIK basically all the engineering happened in the NZ subsidiary of what was initially more-or-less a USA shell company. Engine manufacture was the first thing they moved to the USA that I know of, after one or two launches IIRC. Aside, Peter Beck has said (probably at a talk I was at in 2014) that they initially designed and built Electron in NZ so that they would be importing restricted technology into the USA, to minimise ITAR problems, which only covers exports.
    - inemesitaffia 3mo ago
      SpaceX has most staff in California. It's a Texas company.

elzbardico 3mo ago

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.

micromacrofoot 3mo ago

same thing that always happens to companies, money

khurs 3mo ago

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-much-foreign-talent-at-spacex https://qz.com/794101/elon-musk-explains-why-he-doesnt-hire-...

bell-cot 3mo ago

It sure doesn't help that New Zealand's housing market is one of the most unaffordable in the world.

rr808 3mo ago
Compared to LA even NZ looks cheap
- seattle_spring 3mo ago
  How about when compared to income potential?

y0ssar1an 3mo ago

at least it's still got a bunch of Kiwi engineers building the Rutherford engine.

generuso 3mo ago

They do not like to talk about it too much in public these days, but Rocket Lab had somewhat shady beginnings. Once they moved past the semi-amateur phase, their first real project was weapons development on a DARPA contract. They were working on a paste-like semi-solid fuel for throttleable engines for munitions, and other similar things. That pushed their main NZ investor away, and they somehow hooked up with the US intelligence community, which facilitated a rather unique series of inter-government arrangements for launching US reconnaissance satellites from NZ. That was probably always the appeal -- to launch over China with very little warning. A cheap, rapidly launchable vehicle was always a dream of the US agencies -- in 2003 this was FALCON program (Force Application and Launch from CONUS) run by DARPA and the Air Force, and today it is the Space Force's "Victus". So, although the bulk of work was done in NZ, Rocket Lab functioned rather intimately with the US spooks from the very early on, including getting some funding from In-Q-Tel. Then in 2013, for the bulk of investment they just had to become a Delaware Corporation, for all the usual reasons. Very soon they moved engine manufacturing to a facility in California. More recently, with the large rocket (Neutron), their main manufacturing operations are in LA and the launch facility in Wallops. All in all, they are an international outfit.

postingawayonhn 3mo ago

They still have significant NZ design, manufacturing, and launch operations. For regulatory and capital raising reasons the parent company has been US based for quite a few years now. They've also been on a multi-year acquisitions spree and picked up quite a large US workforce through that.

JumpCrisscross 3mo ago

> What happened? ITAR. (From what I remember, Beck really tried to avoid it. But there isn’t a competitive solution for a New Zealand-based aerospace company.)

didntknowyou 3mo ago

it needed to be American to get all their defense contracts. the kiwi connection was just PR, and to access local launch sites.