It’s clear local mana whenua were misled by Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck when iwi land at Mahia Peninsula was leased to launch satellites into space.
At the time Peter Beck was clear Rocket Lab would be used for civilian purposes only and would not take up military contracts, despite this being a particularly lucrative path to take.
Fast forward a few years and we find Beck has abandoned any principles he may have had and his company is now majority owned by the US military and is launching satellites for US military purposes.
The government has to sign off on each launch to make sure it is in line with what’s acceptable to this country but it’s clearly a rubber stamp process conducted by Stuart Nash.
Any assurances from Peter Beck or Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash, who signs off on the launches for the government, that Rocket Lab’s work is for the betterment of mankind are not credible.
Peter Beck sets up straw man arguments saying claims of Rocket Lab weaponizing space are “misinformation” and the company would “not deal in weapons”. “We’re certainly not going to launch weapons or anything that damages the environment or goes and hurts people,” he told Newshub last year.
What nonsense. These are “straw-man” arguments. No-one has claimed the rockets contain weapons but what is absolutely clear is that the US military launches rockets for military purposes and this is what is happening at Mahia.
The NZ Herald reported last year on the capabilities of “Gunsmoke-J satellites”, which have been launched from Mahia for the US military, saying:
The other is the “Gunsmoke-J” satellite being launched for the US Army’s Space and Missile Defence Command (SMDC).
Gunsmoke-J is a prototype for a possible series of nano-satellites that will collect targeting data “in direct support of Army combat operations” according to a US Army fact sheet and a US Department of Defence budget document.
Green MP and party spokesperson for security and intelligence, Teanau Tuiono, is right to speak out:
“Weaponising space is not in our national interest and goes against our international commitments to ensuring peace in space,”
“The government should put in place clear rules that stop our whenua being used to launch rockets on behalf of foreign militaries”
“We should not be a launching pad for satellites for America’s military and intelligence agencies,” Green Party security and intelligence spokesman Teanau Tuiono said.
Rocket Lab is donkey deep with US strategies for “full spectrum dominance of the planet – including space. In doing so Beck and the government have made Mahia a target for conventional or even tactical nuclear weapons if hostilities break out between the US and another world power.
It’s ironic that the government provided start-up funds for Beck to get Rocket Lab off the ground only for Aotearoa New Zealand to find the company has put us to bed with a foreign military and made us target for conventional or nuclear attack.
Mana whenua in Mahia are right to be concerned – and so should the rest of us.
The government is “consulting” at the moment on these issues in their Space Policy Review.
Make a submission for the peaceful use of space here (Deadline 31 October)
Consulting in New Zealand means asking people their views and ONLY those that agree with what ‘they’ were going to do in the first place ,will be acknowledged and ‘that path’ chosen as proof that ‘we’ listen to the people.
I say, absolute horse sh1t.
LOL. Little Rocket Lab and their little toy rocket. As if they matter one jot in world affairs.
Shameful Beck, shameful government
This is an issue I know a great deal about. Yes, Rocket Lab has launched satellites for the USDOD and Dapra. However, they are no more than testing experimental technologies. Mostly small radio and communication systems. Rocket Lab satellites are too small to have any actual military utility. In any event the US would always want to launch actual military satellites from within the US. Either by Space X or ULA from Cape Canaveral or Vandenberg on the West Coast. These satellites weigh several thousand kilograms.
As for these launches making New Zealand a potential target. Well, that is an absurd proposition. Mahia is no more likely to be a target than the Devonport naval base or Waiouru military camp. In other words, the risk is about zero.
Rocket Lab is owned by Lockheed-Martin.
And NZ Superfund invests in Raytheon.
Our country is part of the American military machine, profiteering from war.
A nuclear strike target. Really? If nukes were being used in a conflict, a launch pad for future satellites would not be that important.
A more salient point is it resourcing the identification and targeting of civilians, here or in Oz or any other democracy.
Good on John Minto for highlighting Rocket Lab’s (and the New Zealand government’s) direct involvement in, and support for, the US war machine. The hardware Rocket Lab is launching is designed for high resolution battlefield targeting and facilitation of other “special operations” such as assassinations and dronings. This means high-profile wars like Ukraine, as well as the other six or seven live-fire conflicts the US is presently involved in. Government sign-offs and Beck’s “assurances” are cleverly worded obfuscation of this stark reality. When was the NZ public asked if it supports our direct involvement in the endless global US war making project. Rocket Lab is no longer a NZ company. It is a wholly controlled subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, the biggest US military contractor of all. Let Rocket Lab go it’s own way.
End military payloads from Mahia and insist all military-related, or dual use, payloads be launched only from the company’s other launch site in Virginia or elsewhere outside NZ.
Thank you, John
Straws, and how to clutch them.
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