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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Business of Tech powered by Two Degrees Business.

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Speaker 1: I'm Peter Griffin, and today we're going on a literal

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Speaker 1: journey above and beyond as we get the inside story

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Speaker 1: from Mark Rocket, the first key we ever to travel

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Speaker 1: into space, and a trailblazer who's helping launch New Zealand

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Speaker 1: into the aerospace age. Mark's recent suborbital mission aboard Blue

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Speaker 1: Origin's New Shepherd not only fulfilled a lifelong dream for him,

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Speaker 1: but cemented his place in history as a founder, as

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Speaker 1: an investor, and a relentless advocate for a growing space sector.

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Speaker 1: We'll dive into Mark's journey from the early days signing

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Speaker 1: up with Virgin Galactic to go to space, to his

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Speaker 1: exhilarating flight with Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and the powerful

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Speaker 1: emotions that come from seeing Earth's fragile atmosphere from the

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Speaker 1: edge of space what's known as the overview effect. But

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Speaker 1: it's not just about ticking off a bucket for Mark.

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Speaker 1: At the heart of it lies his vision for Kia Aerospace,

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Speaker 1: his christ Church based startup, which is building high end

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Speaker 1: solar powered aircraft to revolutionize things like environmental monitoring and

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Speaker 1: disaster response right here on Earth. He also talks about

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Speaker 1: his involvement in Rocket Lab as a pivotal early investor,

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Speaker 1: walking a fine line on taking defense contracts, and the

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Speaker 1: growth potential in our burgeon in aerospace sector. Mark is

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Speaker 1: the President of Aerospace New Zealand and the New Zealand

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Speaker 1: Aerospace Summit is just around the corner, coming up on

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Speaker 1: October the eighth in christ Church. Hoping to get along

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Speaker 1: to it myself. There you'll find industry leaders, government and

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Speaker 1: global delegations gathering to tackle the future of flight and

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Speaker 1: open skies. Mark Rocket is the ultimate space enthusiast. He

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Speaker 1: changed his name to reflect his passion for space rocketry.

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Speaker 1: Think you'll like his tale of finally making it into space.

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Speaker 1: Here's Mark Rockett, Mark Rocket. Welcome to the business of tech.

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Speaker 1: How are you doing.

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Speaker 2: I'm very good. Thanks better.

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Speaker 1: Well, look it's three months I guess now almost since

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Speaker 1: your amazing trip into space. The mission aboard Blue Origin's

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Speaker 1: New Shepherd NS thirty two. I think that was the

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Speaker 1: twelfth launch by Blue Origin.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I think for passengers on board the other payload

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Speaker 3: type launchers as.

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Speaker 1: Well, so it's got a lot of interest at the time,

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Speaker 1: and even long before that. I think it was yourself

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Speaker 1: and Derek Handley. I think Derek had signed up with

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Speaker 1: Virgin Galactic originally to go into space. Were you the

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Speaker 1: same or were you always with Blue Origin.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I signed up with Virgin Galactic back in two

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Speaker 3: thousand and six, So yeah, I think I was the

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Speaker 3: first key we had to confirm and pay for that ticket.

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Speaker 3: And then yeah, there's a bunch of other keywis that

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Speaker 3: on board progressively as well. So yeah, I was part

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Speaker 3: of what they called the founders group with Virgin Galactic,

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Speaker 3: and there's about eighty of us. They're sort of mixed

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Speaker 3: up all around the world, different to different people. And yeah,

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Speaker 3: they got initially they were sort of planning to fly

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Speaker 3: about twenty eleven twenty twelve with some of the marketing

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Speaker 3: team we're talking about. But we started to get a

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Speaker 3: few mixed messages from the technical team saying, you know,

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Speaker 3: maybe that's not going to quite be possible, and you know,

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Speaker 3: they had a few ups and downs on the way,

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Speaker 3: and I got to the point where I was on

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Speaker 3: the customer list. I think I was SEAK thirty eight,

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Speaker 3: and they did a few initial flights and then they

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Speaker 3: decided they wanted to redevelop the vehicle and things have

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Speaker 3: been put on hold for a few years, and hopefully

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Speaker 3: they'll kick off again in the next year or two.

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Speaker 3: But meanwhile I signed up with Blue Origin and I

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Speaker 3: was lucky enough to get a flight up there this year.

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Speaker 3: So that was incredible. You know, there's such an amazing

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Speaker 3: technology company. Yeah, they've just got a real momentum.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and some big names. You're in good company. Not

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Speaker 1: on the same flight, but Katie Perry, the pop star

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Speaker 1: obviously was up there. Jeff Bezos himself went on an

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Speaker 1: earlier flight. So you're joining an elite club of a

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Speaker 1: small number of people who have got to enjoy this,

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Speaker 1: but sort of take us through it from the lead

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Speaker 1: up to it. I guess a lot of preparation is

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Speaker 1: required to actually go on that very brief trip.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess depends, Hoy, you look at it. Basically,

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Speaker 3: we arrived three days before. I got to know that

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Speaker 3: the team that first day and gave us our fitted

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Speaker 3: astronaut suit and Texas Cowboy hat and a few other

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Speaker 3: bits and pieces, and basically then the second day we

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Speaker 3: started training in the capsule and that was pretty interesting,

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Speaker 3: just going through the flight profile and how the day

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Speaker 3: was going to roll out. And then the second training

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Speaker 3: day was more more about or phenomenal situations where things

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Speaker 3: go wrong. If there's a fire, you had to do

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Speaker 3: emergency egress, all that kind of stuff. And yeah, then

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Speaker 3: the next day it was flight day, so yeah, it

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Speaker 3: was really rolled out in a way that was fantastic,

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Speaker 3: great experience. So yeah, I think everyone felt comfortable by

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Speaker 3: the time we got to flight day and we were

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Speaker 3: ready to go.

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Speaker 1: And how did they broach the issue of the risk

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Speaker 1: because this is seriously risky. You know, Blue Origin hasn't

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Speaker 1: been around for a long time. They've done a lot

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Speaker 1: of great work. It's obviously a highly regulated industry as well,

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Speaker 1: but let's face it, you know, the chance of something

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Speaker 1: going wrong is a bit higher than an other industries.

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Speaker 1: So where where they quite stark about the risks and

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Speaker 1: the responsibilities if something goes wrong.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well you sign your life away before you get there.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, I think there was one person on a

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Speaker 3: previous flight and he had won a ticket, and I

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Speaker 3: think he was kind of like a random person in

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Speaker 3: the population that just happened to win this stick at

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Speaker 3: the space and never kind of had any aspirations of

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Speaker 3: going to space or taking on that risk. Of going

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Speaker 3: to space, and so yeah, when he turned up, apparently

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Speaker 3: you know, he was asking a few more questions than

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Speaker 3: their average customer.

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Speaker 2: That already knew what they were getting into.

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Speaker 3: Certainly, you know there's an element of risk, but you

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Speaker 3: know when you're driving through the South Island or North Island,

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Speaker 3: there's an element of risk in anything that you do exactly,

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Speaker 3: and I felt very comfortable with the approach that Blue

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Speaker 3: Origin took. I think they've got a great piece of technology,

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Speaker 3: a great approach to sub little flights.

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Speaker 2: So I felt pretty comfortable.

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Speaker 1: So, yeah, you do a couple of days of prep.

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Speaker 1: Were you nervous the night before? Did you sleep? Okay?

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Speaker 3: No, Yeah I was. I knew what I was getting into.

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Speaker 3: I felt pretty excited about it. Yeah, No, I didn't

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Speaker 3: really have any nerves. I mean maybe just as I

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Speaker 3: was sort of walking on the gantry on to the capture.

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Speaker 3: Think there's probably a moment of trepidation, but no, overall

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Speaker 3: there was the excitement of the moment.

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Speaker 1: So you're in your tailor made space suit, which hopefully

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Speaker 1: you still have. Yep, you got to take that home

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Speaker 1: with the cowboy hat.

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Speaker 2: That's right.

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Speaker 1: Tell us what it's like sitting down and getting strapped

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Speaker 1: into that cockpit essentially, how many if you were in

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Speaker 1: the spaceship.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there's six people on the flight. I was seat

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Speaker 3: number six, so I mean that I got on first

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Speaker 3: and got off last. So yeah, essentially you just walk

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Speaker 3: in there, and I mean you've done a lot of

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Speaker 3: those simulations already, so you kind of know exactly what's happening.

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Speaker 3: But you know, on launch day you are on top

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Speaker 3: of a whole lot of fuel and there's a little

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Speaker 3: bit more nervousness. Yeah, basically you're on the capsule for

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Speaker 3: about twenty or so minutes before they do the countdown.

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Speaker 2: Then if you go.

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Speaker 1: And it's all automated pretty much, it's all computer controlled.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, auto autonomous slash robotic system.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And what's the feeling like when you have that much

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Speaker 1: power underneath? I mean, you've been obsessed with rockets for decades,

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Speaker 1: you know, the physics off them and that, but to

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Speaker 1: be actually sitting on top of that much energy going off,

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Speaker 1: what does that feel like?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: I think a lot of people have gone on roller

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Speaker 3: coasters and maybe ben and cars going a bit faster

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Speaker 3: than they should sometimes. I mean, you know, certainly there's

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Speaker 3: that acceleration was pretty incredible. You know, it starts off

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Speaker 3: as a smooth elevator ride, but then it just goes

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Speaker 3: faster and faster, and it builds up the speed when

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Speaker 3: you're zipping through the clouds and you're above the clouds

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Speaker 3: and you're watching the control panel go up to three

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Speaker 3: four hundred kilometers per hour and the blood is pumping

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Speaker 3: at that point and you can feel the rocket sort

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Speaker 3: of correcting as it's going up, and that was kind

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Speaker 3: of probably the highest adrenaline moment. You really feel like

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Speaker 3: you're on the edge of your seat really pushing it.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, that felt very full on. And then you

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Speaker 3: get engine cut off and then a few seconds later

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Speaker 3: you get stage separation, and then basically the main booster

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Speaker 3: goes back down and land and the capsule keeps on

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Speaker 3: going up to one hundred and five kilometers and you know,

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Speaker 3: within a few seconds of that stage separation, you're in

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Speaker 3: a zero G environment and you can feel the weightlessness.

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Speaker 3: So you've got to transition mentally from that kind of adrenaline,

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Speaker 3: you know, holding on pretty tight to your seat, to

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Speaker 3: basically the opposite of that. Wee you get to float

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Speaker 3: around the cabin.

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Speaker 1: As you were rocketing up through the atmosphere. Could you

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Speaker 1: look out the window?

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Another one of the great things about the Blue Origin

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Speaker 3: ship had capture was it's got a beautiful design. You know,

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Speaker 3: they tried to make the windows as large as they

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Speaker 3: possibly could, so yeah, you get a fantastic view all

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Speaker 3: the way up, all the way up, spectacular, fantastic.

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Speaker 1: And describe what it sounds like. Is it loud?

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Speaker 3: I was expecting it to be like a Formula one car,

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Speaker 3: but no, it wasn't as loud as I thought it

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Speaker 3: would be. And then obviously once you're going faster than

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Speaker 3: the speed of sound, it gets even quieter. So yeah,

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Speaker 3: it's I mean, you do we air plugs, but I

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Speaker 3: don't think you know they they were that necessary.

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Speaker 1: So you're sitting there, there's the five other people, I guess,

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Speaker 1: all looking around with glee on their face or a

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Speaker 1: bit of panic or what was the vibe in the capsule?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well we had two Americans, a Canadian, American, Panamanian,

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Speaker 3: Puerto Rican. But yeah, certainly the Americans in particular, you

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Speaker 3: know that they're pretty big on the.

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Speaker 2: Stuff. So yeah, I mean there's definitely a good, good

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Speaker 2: high energy crew.

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Speaker 1: Obviously, the first stage goes back and they land that

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Speaker 1: back on the tim act, do they.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we live from north northwest Texas, and yeah, basically it's.

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Speaker 1: A land range, right, So then that comes back down

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Speaker 1: and then there's a second stage with the capsule on

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Speaker 1: the top of it. And does that feel quite different

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Speaker 1: or is that because it won't have as much thrust

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Speaker 1: those engines? I guess.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So at that point you stop accelerating and you're on

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Speaker 3: a kind of like a parabolic arc.

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Speaker 2: We're slowing down and then you'll come back down again.

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Speaker 1: And then at some point the just cut out completely.

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Speaker 1: You're at one hundred kilometers above the earth, over the

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Speaker 1: Caiman line, and that's when you have your very short

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Speaker 1: window to unbuckle, be weightless and spend a bit of

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Speaker 1: time looking back at the Earth.

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Speaker 2: What was that like the state separation?

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Speaker 3: I think it's around fifty five kilometers altitude and from

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Speaker 3: you know, that's about sixty kilometers on the way. That's

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Speaker 3: when you're in that zero gravity for about two and

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Speaker 3: a half minutes. You know, from sixty five kilometers you're

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Speaker 3: basically going up to one hundred and five kilometers and yeah,

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Speaker 3: at that point, you know, you can feel the weightlessness

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Speaker 3: and do flips and other cool stuff, and looking out

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Speaker 3: the window, it was incredible to see the atmosphere and

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Speaker 3: the blackness of space is quite a powerful feeling. Seeing

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Speaker 3: the context of the Earth and the Sun. It was

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Speaker 3: quite an emotional experience.

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Speaker 1: So obviously you saw that the sun. Could you see

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Speaker 1: other planets in the moon as well?

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Speaker 3: No, on the Moon wasn't kind of visible from where

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Speaker 3: we were. And yeah, I mean, but basically because it's daylight,

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Speaker 3: the sunlight basically means you just see the blackness of space.

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Speaker 1: Well, it must have been surreal. So you know, they

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Speaker 1: do talk about you've heard about the overview effect. Did

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Speaker 1: you experience that where it sort of changes your perspective

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Speaker 1: on everything when you see the Earth from space?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean again, I think you know, you do

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Speaker 3: get that real emotional impact when you see the context.

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Speaker 3: You know of how thin the atmosphere is, and you

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Speaker 3: know a lot of people they don't really think that

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Speaker 3: they see this big blue sky, but you know, the

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Speaker 3: reality is we can only live in the bottom of

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Speaker 3: five kilometers of the atmosphere. You know, there are no

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Speaker 3: habitations higher than five kilometers altitude. So the part with

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Speaker 3: the oxygen that we breathe and live, and you know

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Speaker 3: that biosphees it's very thin, and you know, by the

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Speaker 3: time you're up to one hundred kilometers, there is you know,

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Speaker 3: not very much atmosphere left. That's what they call it

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Speaker 3: space effectively. I mean, it does obviously dissipate gradually, even

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Speaker 3: fear even higher. But the reality is once you're over

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Speaker 3: one hundred chlometers, you know, most of the atmosphere is

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Speaker 3: below you, and it's like the skin of an apple.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I already knew about that.

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Speaker 3: And obviously we all have seen a lot of stuff

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Speaker 3: about climate change, and yeah, it really historically shows really

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Speaker 3: the context of our environment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of astronauts who have come back have

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Speaker 1: talked about that. Just the fragility of Earth when you

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Speaker 1: see it from space and has reinforced I think for

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Speaker 1: a lot of them what the real mission is, which

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Speaker 1: is you sort of go to space to explore and

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Speaker 1: to new frontiers, but it's also about taking care of

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Speaker 1: what we have back on Earth. And that really, I

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Speaker 1: guess is part of your mission at Kia, your company,

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Speaker 1: Kia Aerospace, which is looking back down at Earth to

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Speaker 1: basically observe the Earth in order to look after the

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Speaker 1: Earth better.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I think you know, obviously we just got

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Speaker 3: a little bit of a taste of that, but if

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Speaker 3: you are in orbit and you're spending hours, weeks or

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Speaker 3: months and all that, it must be a really profound experience.

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Speaker 3: And obviously a lot of atauts do come back with

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Speaker 3: a heightened awareness of the environment and looking after the planet.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: At Key Aerospace, you know, we're building a flying Strata

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Speaker 3: Spirit aircraft, solar powered, and one of the key applications

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Speaker 3: I'm excited about is that environmental monitoring and giving more frequent,

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Speaker 3: high resolution data to help us make informed decisions about

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Speaker 3: land used.

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Speaker 2: Water use, water quality use.

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Speaker 3: And they can be used for disaster response and telecommunications

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Speaker 3: a wide range of other aspects. But yeah, certainly with

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Speaker 3: observation is a key application.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. And look, it's been quite a big year for

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Speaker 1: you personally obviously with that incredible mission, but also for

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Speaker 1: the company as well. Just literally in the last week

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Speaker 1: a really interesting partnership through year partnership with NASA that

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Speaker 1: you've signed with government funding from mb here, and that's

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Speaker 1: very much about monitoring water quality, isn't it using your

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Speaker 1: aircraft to help NASA and New Zealand actually monitor water

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Speaker 1: quality around the country.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we announced that one a few months ago, and

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Speaker 3: but yeah, we're very excited to work with some teams

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Speaker 3: that at NASA on coastal water monitoring. Hopefully that leads

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Speaker 3: on to other projects. But yeh, there was another project

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Speaker 3: you're probably alluding to, which is essentially flying over the

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Speaker 3: Antarctic to monitor the Ozone hole and that'll be in

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Speaker 3: the next three to five years.

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Speaker 2: So, you know, flying over the.

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Speaker 4: Antarctic with a solar power aircraft, I think is it's

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Speaker 4: going to be a real thriller, real highlights something that

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Speaker 4: we've had on our wish list to arrange a mission

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Speaker 4: down there, and that's going to be incredibly exciting.

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, what I read about that is

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Speaker 1: very timely because the satellite that was doing that job

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Speaker 1: as being decommissioned, right, So that's quite an urgent need

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Speaker 1: that you'll be filling there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I think a lot of people don't realize,

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Speaker 3: you know, how aerospace technology is as part of their

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Speaker 3: daily lives, and you know, a lot of the times

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Speaker 3: we're not talking to the public or people on the media.

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Speaker 3: Often you know, you get these random questions saying, oh,

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Speaker 3: you know why don't we just do stuff on Earth.

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Speaker 3: But you know the reality is a lot of this

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Speaker 3: technology is helping us to live better on Earth. And

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Speaker 3: you know, whether you're using GPS to navigate around your town,

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Speaker 3: or sky TV or all the myriad of technologies that

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Speaker 3: was really spawned because of the Apollo program and the

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Speaker 3: massive money that went into that, all that is now

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Speaker 3: actually part of our everyday lives. So yeah, I think

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Speaker 3: advanced aviation technology space technology is going to be really

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Speaker 3: important and it's going to help us to deal with

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Speaker 3: the problems that we have coming up. And you know,

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Speaker 3: developing those better technology tools are really going to help

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Speaker 3: us make informed decisions and navigate our way through this.

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Speaker 1: And maybe Mark just recap for us the real value

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Speaker 1: proposition of care. We hear a lot about. You know,

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Speaker 1: you've got Dorner Aerospace, which is doing a horizontal takeoff

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Speaker 1: aircraft to orbit. You've got obviously Rocket Lab is putting

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Speaker 1: up satellites on a regular basis into low Earth orbit.

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Speaker 1: Is great and opening up the options, but what you're

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Speaker 1: really looking at is solar powered gliders that relatively cheaply

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Speaker 1: you can get up and at a lower altitude, So

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Speaker 1: you're going to get better resolution for censors and photography

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Speaker 1: and the like exactly.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean there's a lot of great companies in

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Speaker 3: New Zealand that are delving into the aerospace area. But

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Speaker 3: you know, at care aerospace, with our solar powered stratospheric aircraft,

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Speaker 3: it means that we can fly above the weather and

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Speaker 3: above other air traffic, and so that means we can

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Speaker 3: fly for long durations. And you know, we'll be targeting

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Speaker 3: to fly for weeks and months continuously with these solar

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Speaker 3: powered aircraft. So yeah, that means we have a kind

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Speaker 3: of unique capability where we can stay over an area

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Speaker 3: of interest, whether that's a city or a boat or

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Speaker 3: whatever it is, and basically just stay over there. Governments

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Speaker 3: around the world are investing in technologies for all sorts

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Speaker 3: of things such as maritime domain awareness, and so in

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Speaker 3: New Zealand we're bought for Boeing P eight aircraft. I

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Speaker 3: think we paid about two billion dollars for those and

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Speaker 3: then it costs unless that's fifty thousand dollars an hour

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Speaker 3: to run those things. By time you look at all

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Speaker 3: the maintenance costs and the crew costs and the fuel costs,

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Speaker 3: it's quite expensive to have those types of capabilities. So

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Speaker 3: what we're aiming to do with a sole pat aircraft

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Speaker 3: and you bring the cost down and extend the capability,

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Speaker 3: help with high resolution, and you know it all fit

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Speaker 3: within the network. I mean UAVs at low altitude are

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Speaker 3: going to do one job, pights are going to be

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Speaker 3: good for another job, satellites are going to be good

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Speaker 3: for other tasks, and we want to sort of fit

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Speaker 3: slot in the middle and offer that unique capability around

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Speaker 3: staying over an area of interest and doing that cost

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Speaker 3: effectively providing high resolution.

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Speaker 1: One of the big areas investment we've seen in a

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Speaker 1: very constrained physical time at the moment is the big

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Speaker 1: defense spend twelve billion going into defense. And one of

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Speaker 1: the really interesting things there is a real focus on drones.

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Speaker 1: So you talked about the phs there, but the cost

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Speaker 1: to go out and look for a sailor lost at

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Speaker 1: sea with a fully crude P eight and the filiates

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Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of dollars. So if you can send

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Speaker 1: out a UAV like a drone. So the options and

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Speaker 1: the thinking seems to really be changing all around the

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Speaker 1: world as the technology improves that the traditional ways of

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Speaker 1: getting eyes on something or doing an operation. The hardware

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Speaker 1: you need to do that now is the options are

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Speaker 1: greatly increasing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we've got a convergence of technologies with

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Speaker 3: composite materials, solar cells, batteries, computing power, and it all

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Speaker 3: adds up to enable these new aerospace technologies. So I

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Speaker 3: think it's quite an exciting time and it's going to

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Speaker 3: make a big difference and improve the capabilities a lot

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Speaker 3: of a lot of agencies and organizations.

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Speaker 1: So you've got the Atmoss Mark one that your flagship aircraft.

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Speaker 1: You're developing the Mark two at the moment.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we've got two Mark one aircraft. They're about twelve

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Speaker 3: and a half meter wingspan and that dawn to us

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Speaker 3: type aircraft. We've got to find a good weather window

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Speaker 3: to fly and we can do our testing and get

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Speaker 3: up to altitudes above fifty sixty thousand feet with those

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Speaker 3: So fantastic for us to test that technology. And we

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Speaker 3: are working with customers, We are working with government projects

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Speaker 3: with those aircraft, which is great. But we've just started

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Speaker 3: the design process of the Mark two aircraft and really

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Speaker 3: that enables us to stay up in the air for

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Speaker 3: weeks and months, means we can have larger battery capacity

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Speaker 3: to store the energy that we need from the solar

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Speaker 3: cells to get through the night and then charge up

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Speaker 3: again the next day.

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Speaker 1: Is that, Mike, if you were to sort of put

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Speaker 1: your finger on the key technical hurdles to overcome with

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Speaker 1: this is that it keeping an aircraft with a big

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Speaker 1: wingspan like that power it up on a continuous basis.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, if we look at the Mark one aircraft,

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Speaker 3: we basically got to the stratosphere on the power of

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Speaker 3: a hair dryer. We're dealing with one or two killer

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Speaker 3: watts with these rarely efficient electric motors getting up to

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Speaker 3: the stratosphere. That's twelve and a half meter wing span.

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Speaker 3: We're upscaling with the Mark two to about a thirty

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Speaker 3: meter wing span, but it'll be under one d or

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Speaker 3: around one hundred and fifty kgs, so it's a very

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Speaker 3: light aircraft over thirty meters, so it's a very light

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Speaker 3: glider type aircraft. And yeah, we need to really get

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Speaker 3: high density batteries that can do the job and charge

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Speaker 3: up efficiently and have good quality solar cells that it's

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Speaker 3: going to generate enough input. We're really the two main

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Speaker 3: challenges we have are mass and energy. You know, we

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Speaker 3: need to keep the aircraft as light as possible. We

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Speaker 3: need to make those aircraft as energy efficient as possible

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Speaker 3: and if we can do that, then that enables us

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Speaker 3: to stay up there for months and years to come.

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Speaker 3: You'll have these aircraft that will be able to stay

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Speaker 3: up there for years.

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Speaker 1: And you're taking off from Tafaki that you know, a

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Speaker 1: great facility on the coast out there at christ Church.

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Speaker 1: How's that going? I know there was, you know, the

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Speaker 1: government's really enthusiastic and Judith Collins as Space Minister, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of passion for this project. Is a momentum

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Speaker 1: building towards getting international parties here to use that facility

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Speaker 1: for launchers.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Well, Meghan Woods in the last Labor government started off

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Speaker 3: that the project, which was fantastic. Minister Collins, she's taken

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Speaker 3: the baton and ran with it. It's fantastic to see

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Speaker 3: the Tafaki National Aerospace Center to develop that momentum and

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Speaker 3: they've been sort of finding the strategy that's relevant for them.

440
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,919
Speaker 3: And yeah, it's basically become a major R and D

441
00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:42,960
Speaker 3: test hub for aerospace companies such as Kia and Dawn

442
00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:46,680
Speaker 3: and Aerosearch and SCIOs and a range of other companies.

443
00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:49,560
Speaker 3: So New Zealand's really lucky to have that test bed.

444
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:51,240
Speaker 3: It's kind of like a sand pit where we can

445
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:54,800
Speaker 3: go and play with the toys and work out how

446
00:22:54,840 --> 00:23:00,720
Speaker 3: to operate safely before we move those technologies into the airspace.

447
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:03,320
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's a great asset and hopefully there's going

448
00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:06,560
Speaker 3: to be more airspace opportunities opening up around the country

449
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,040
Speaker 3: as well. But for now, you know, to Folk, he's

450
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:11,760
Speaker 3: doing a great job. They've got a good hangar facility,

451
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,840
Speaker 3: a one kilmeter runway. Hopefully they can add some more

452
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:18,720
Speaker 3: facilities for more companies in New Zealand and from around

453
00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:21,240
Speaker 3: the world to come here and do their test bed work.

454
00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:24,159
Speaker 1: It's a high growth industry. It's surpassed you know, wine

455
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,280
Speaker 1: and others. You know, it's definitely getting up there very quickly.

456
00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:29,840
Speaker 1: And Rocket Labs obviously at the height of it, has

457
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 1: a big operation in Auckland, has Mahas doing regular launchers there.

458
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,080
Speaker 1: But it's by no means just about Rocket Lab now

459
00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:39,400
Speaker 1: they are a whole ecosystem of companies. It was interesting

460
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:43,240
Speaker 1: Peter Beck in event at Parliament recently. I was at

461
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,920
Speaker 1: and I think the you know, the government has a

462
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,159
Speaker 1: goal of increasing the value of the industry by two

463
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,160
Speaker 1: billion dollars or something, and he said, look, this internationally

464
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,920
Speaker 1: is going to be a multi trillion dollar business. Let's

465
00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:57,320
Speaker 1: let's think about two hundred billion. Let's go big, and

466
00:23:57,359 --> 00:23:58,720
Speaker 1: what do we need to do to get there? And

467
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,480
Speaker 1: he was very much saying we, seriously, we do have

468
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,719
Speaker 1: the capability and the skills here and the launch capacity

469
00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:09,040
Speaker 1: to actually be a really big player in space. Do

470
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 1: you agree with that sentiment right now?

471
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:13,280
Speaker 2: I see the advanced aviation is a big one.

472
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:14,959
Speaker 3: Obviously, you can see around the world there's a lot

473
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,359
Speaker 3: of work being done in drones, autonomous flight systems, and

474
00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:20,760
Speaker 3: you know a lot of money going into that. And

475
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,480
Speaker 3: then you're on top of that. Obviously, the space industry

476
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:27,280
Speaker 3: is another huge growth area. And we're incredibly lucky to

477
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,320
Speaker 3: have rocket Lab. Obviously seen investor of rocket Lab back

478
00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:32,200
Speaker 3: in two thousand and seven and Peter and I started

479
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,360
Speaker 3: commercial operation. Still very pleased to be shareholder, and yeah,

480
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:38,840
Speaker 3: it's been fantastic to see what Peter and the team

481
00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:42,119
Speaker 3: have done a rocket Lab. It's a massive success story

482
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,720
Speaker 3: for News Element. It really puts us on the international

483
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:47,440
Speaker 3: technology map, and I think we're just scratching the surface

484
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:51,040
Speaker 3: of what's possible in New Zealand. And I'd love to

485
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:54,560
Speaker 3: see ten more rocket labs emerge. And how do we

486
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:58,280
Speaker 3: get the support to those up and coming entrepreneurs and

487
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,840
Speaker 3: people with the bright ideas making sure that they do

488
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 3: get the funding, support and the expertise support that they

489
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:07,880
Speaker 3: need to develop those concepts.

490
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the interesting thing about rocket Lab is, you know,

491
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 1: the public perception is launches rockets, which it does, and

492
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 1: it's working on Neutron, it's bigger rocket, But actually the

493
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,639
Speaker 1: bulk of revenue from that company comes from space systems,

494
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:25,239
Speaker 1: from solar panels, from reaction wheels, all of these the

495
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,959
Speaker 1: bits that go into spacecraft and satellites. And I think

496
00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,520
Speaker 1: that you know, that is the less sexy side of

497
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,200
Speaker 1: the space sector, but is absolutely crucial. That's key to

498
00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,560
Speaker 1: getting the value out of being in space, whether it's

499
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 1: cell towers in space or Earth monitoring, remote sensing, all

500
00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,000
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. I think we definitely have a

501
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,320
Speaker 1: bit of growing capability in that space as well, actually

502
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: building satellite components and the like.

503
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's definitely where the biggest business opportunity has always been.

504
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:56,199
Speaker 3: And you know, when we started rocket Lab, you know,

505
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,199
Speaker 3: we knew that the launch was going to get a

506
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,480
Speaker 3: lot of buzz and hype and interest. But the reality is,

507
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 3: you know, it's that those next phases which actually provide

508
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,480
Speaker 3: the big commercial opportunities. You know, we've got that way

509
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 3: of getting to space with rocket Lab. You know, I

510
00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:15,240
Speaker 3: don't think we need twenty more ways of getting to space.

511
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,280
Speaker 3: I think we do need to focus on those space

512
00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,879
Speaker 3: systems and you know, how can we develop really interesting

513
00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:24,320
Speaker 3: technologies that can be used in space?

514
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:26,280
Speaker 1: And look, yeah, it was a long time ago now,

515
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:28,720
Speaker 1: but you know, one of your reservations I think at

516
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:32,080
Speaker 1: rocket Lab was being too reliant on military funding and

517
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 1: defense contracts and that. But if you look at where

518
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,120
Speaker 1: the world is going now, You've got the Golden Dome

519
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: project in the US, You've got every country you know,

520
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,040
Speaker 1: it's being told by the US you need to up

521
00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:47,199
Speaker 1: your defense spending. So the reality is that's going to

522
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,120
Speaker 1: be a bigger opportunity. It's a bigger opportunity in New Zealand,

523
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,920
Speaker 1: which is increasing its defense spending. How do you tread

524
00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,280
Speaker 1: that line in the current environment between being supportive of

525
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,879
Speaker 1: your defense sector and its needs for national security, but

526
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,480
Speaker 1: not crossing that line into offensive capabilities and supporting them.

527
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think every board, every CEO of an aerospace

528
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,360
Speaker 3: company needs to kind of work out where that ethical

529
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:13,240
Speaker 3: line is for them, and I guess a lot of

530
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:17,080
Speaker 3: is by virtue of the technology they're developing or where

531
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 3: that is going to lead them. But you know, the

532
00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:21,480
Speaker 3: rarely is we're in New Zealand, so you know, we

533
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 3: need to adhere to New Zealand law, New Zealand values.

534
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:28,480
Speaker 3: So there's some some things around the offensive capability that

535
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,359
Speaker 3: you know maybe wouldn't be quite so palatable here in

536
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,639
Speaker 3: New Zealand. I personally think it's good for us to

537
00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:38,240
Speaker 3: find our point of difference and use aerospace technology for

538
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:45,239
Speaker 3: environmental disaster response, humanitarian commercial applications. And you know, I'm

539
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:49,199
Speaker 3: seeing you know, most of the aerospace projects are definitely

540
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:53,120
Speaker 3: aligned with the typical New Zealand approach.

541
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:54,119
Speaker 2: And it gives us a point of difference.

542
00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:56,679
Speaker 3: You know, there's a lot of other countries focused on

543
00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:58,240
Speaker 3: offensive capability.

544
00:27:58,920 --> 00:27:59,480
Speaker 2: That's fine.

545
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:01,720
Speaker 3: You know, there's going to be some New Zealand companies

546
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,399
Speaker 3: that want to do that, but the majority of what

547
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,520
Speaker 3: we're seeing in the aerospace industry are perfectly aligned with

548
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:11,880
Speaker 3: New Zealand values and how we approach the world.

549
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, and ultimately, I think Judith Collins has the ultimate

550
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 1: say on every payload that's launched from New Zealand, so

551
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,399
Speaker 1: they check whether that aligns with our policies. It's a

552
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,200
Speaker 1: non negotiable thing. So it's good if stuff is getting

553
00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 1: launched into space from here, it has to fit our values.

554
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,119
Speaker 2: And I think it's a conversation, the public conversation that

555
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:32,800
Speaker 2: we need to have.

556
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 3: You know, the world is changing, and you know the

557
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:38,400
Speaker 3: reality is we can't rely on countries like Australia in

558
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:40,600
Speaker 3: the US to protect New Zealand. You know, at some

559
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 3: point we've actually got to fend for ourselves a little

560
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,440
Speaker 3: bit because we could get left high and dry, and

561
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:47,080
Speaker 3: you know that's not going to be great either.

562
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:49,600
Speaker 2: So it's a real type rope that we've got to

563
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 2: walk as a country.

564
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 1: And an ipart of oil, we've got a vast ocean

565
00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:55,480
Speaker 1: to cover. And sure we've had satellites for a long

566
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,960
Speaker 1: time looking at dark fleets that are you know, illegally

567
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,160
Speaker 1: fishing and all that sort of thing. But and this

568
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,000
Speaker 1: is where your technology comes in, just that more nuanced

569
00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:06,239
Speaker 1: view and being able to get eyes up there if

570
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:08,320
Speaker 1: there is a disaster, for instance, being able to get

571
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:12,440
Speaker 1: up a glider to give you sensing or observation on

572
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:16,280
Speaker 1: a particular area intently for a period of time. That's

573
00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:17,360
Speaker 1: hugely valuable.

574
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:18,959
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, the reality is we've got

575
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 3: a lot of data gaps. And you know, you saw

576
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 3: from the Chinese warships that came down through the Tasmin

577
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 3: and they were doing live firing tests and it wasn't

578
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,400
Speaker 3: picked up by the Australian orgies in the Defense Forces.

579
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,920
Speaker 3: It was picked up by a Virgin Airlines pilot that

580
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 3: was flying over that.

581
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 2: Sort of live firing.

582
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:36,560
Speaker 3: So it sort of highlights that, you know, even with

583
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:38,360
Speaker 3: all the billions of dollars that we have in that

584
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 3: capability right now, we can't really track when we know

585
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:43,920
Speaker 3: that there is something going on there, we still can't

586
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:46,520
Speaker 3: really track what is happening. So I think there is

587
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 3: definitely a willingness to increase the capabilities in a wide

588
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 3: range of areas.

589
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,320
Speaker 1: Yeah. So just finally, Mike, you know, when you sort

590
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 1: of ill, you have to tell us about coming back

591
00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:00,240
Speaker 1: to Earth from well, I mean, what was out like?

592
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,600
Speaker 1: So suddenly you're waitless, you get the signal, get back

593
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 1: into your seat, buckle up, what's it like coming back

594
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 1: the return journey.

595
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know, going up at three four hundred

596
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:13,720
Speaker 3: klimeters an hour, you do it about three g's, which

597
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,440
Speaker 3: is like three of your own body weight on top

598
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,000
Speaker 3: of you, so you definitely feel it. It's quite exciting,

599
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,480
Speaker 3: you know, within a minute, but buckling up, you're starting

600
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:24,440
Speaker 3: to feel the g's going down, and on the way

601
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:27,360
Speaker 3: down you're actually going three thousand, seven hundred cometers per hour,

602
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,600
Speaker 3: so even faster, and you're doing five g's, so you

603
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 3: really can feel that, and you're just basically waiting for

604
00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:36,480
Speaker 3: the atmosphere to get a little bit thicker to slow

605
00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:38,680
Speaker 3: you down, because it's not actually using a kind of

606
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:42,000
Speaker 3: retro thrust all the way down. It's basically just using

607
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:46,040
Speaker 3: friction waiting for more molecules to add up to slow

608
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 3: you down. And I think we slid down to about

609
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:52,440
Speaker 3: six hundred kilometers per hour, and then the drug shoote

610
00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:55,600
Speaker 3: deployed and there was a happy moment because you know

611
00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 3: you're going to have a better landing if you've got parachutes.

612
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,720
Speaker 2: And then a few seconds later the main shoots deployed.

613
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:07,720
Speaker 3: So yeah, the reentry was pretty exciting as well, and

614
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,240
Speaker 3: a lot of relief when those parachutes deployed.

615
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:14,640
Speaker 1: The parachutes deployed, and then you're coming down obviously very slowly.

616
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:17,520
Speaker 1: You're seeing the desert out the window. Yeah, and then

617
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 1: was it quite a gentle landing?

618
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:21,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you do have rich thro thrusters that

619
00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,200
Speaker 3: blast just as your land just to soften right things,

620
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:26,760
Speaker 3: and there's a big cloud of dust and it looks

621
00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:29,040
Speaker 3: quite dramatic, but when you're in the capsule, it's quite

622
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:29,640
Speaker 3: a soft landing.

623
00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:32,480
Speaker 1: And then someone comes up and opens the door, as

624
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,600
Speaker 1: we've seen for astronauts and images from NASA over the decades,

625
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 1: and you step out. What was that feeling like stepping

626
00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:42,040
Speaker 1: out onto Terra Firma again.

627
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,600
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, we had had our guests and you know,

628
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:47,400
Speaker 3: the teams there and so that yeah, bit of a celebration.

629
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:49,760
Speaker 3: And then it was great to go out to the

630
00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,200
Speaker 3: booster to see where that landed, and we met the

631
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 3: full flight team from Blue Origin. So was it real

632
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:58,360
Speaker 3: privileged to meet all of those teams, the people that

633
00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 3: made it happen. You know, Blue Origin just such an

634
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,680
Speaker 3: incredible company. You know at the moment that you know,

635
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,480
Speaker 3: it's a little bit expensive for these tickets, but just

636
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:09,120
Speaker 3: like in the early days of bear travel in the

637
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 3: nineteen twenties, you know, it was a bit expensive, and

638
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 3: now we have air travel that's a lot more affordable.

639
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:15,840
Speaker 3: So you know, the same sort of thing is going

640
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 3: to be happening with spaceflight. You know, Blue Origin they're

641
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:20,440
Speaker 3: doing flights about every month at the moment. They're going

642
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:23,200
Speaker 3: to get that cadence to about every week, and you know,

643
00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:25,400
Speaker 3: the prices are going to be coming down over the

644
00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:26,120
Speaker 3: next few years.

645
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:28,480
Speaker 2: So I think a lot of people like me that

646
00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:29,320
Speaker 2: had that dream of.

647
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:31,719
Speaker 3: Going to space, it's going to be more and more

648
00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:33,840
Speaker 3: achievable over the next decade.

649
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:35,880
Speaker 1: Was that enough for you or did it give you

650
00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 1: to hunger to spend more time in space?

651
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 2: Yeah? I would love to go again, but I've got

652
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:41,680
Speaker 2: to run that by my wife.

653
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:45,320
Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, I mean it's something I think about

654
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 3: every day.

655
00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 2: You know. It was just such an incredible experience.

656
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess I've always been fascinated by space technology,

657
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 3: space travel and something I've thought of a lot about.

658
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was incredible.

659
00:32:57,200 --> 00:32:59,680
Speaker 1: Well, between the space tourism stuff, as you say, the

660
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:03,800
Speaker 1: price will come down and the frequency will increase. NASA

661
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,840
Speaker 1: wants to put a space station around the Moon, so

662
00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:10,000
Speaker 1: we're going to see more people going there and then

663
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:14,720
Speaker 1: starship and other craft to come. Mys is the ultimate goal.

664
00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:16,720
Speaker 1: So there's going to be a lot more humans in

665
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:18,240
Speaker 1: space in the next decade, isn't there.

666
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,280
Speaker 3: Yep, No, it's I mean it's looking great, and yeah,

667
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,000
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of really exciting technologies that

668
00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:25,040
Speaker 3: are coming down the pipe.

669
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:28,400
Speaker 1: Hopefully we'll play continue to play as a nation and

670
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 1: a great companies play a role in it, and they'll

671
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:34,720
Speaker 1: all be gathering on October the eighth. Any specific theme

672
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:36,200
Speaker 1: to the summit this year.

673
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,720
Speaker 3: Yes, it's about open skies, so it's really investigating the

674
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:44,080
Speaker 3: regulatory opportunities that we have here in New Zealand. So

675
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:49,000
Speaker 3: we're aiming for eight hundred to one thousand attends and

676
00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 3: we've got delegations coming from around the world, lots of

677
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:55,480
Speaker 3: countries that want to be part of this event this year,

678
00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 3: so it's going to be going to be huge. We've

679
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:02,080
Speaker 3: got international national speakers. It's going to be a big one.

680
00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:05,200
Speaker 3: So if you, if anyone is interested in the aerospace industry.

681
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:07,920
Speaker 3: Eighth of October and cross Church.

682
00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,600
Speaker 1: Well good luck for the conference and all the best

683
00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:14,600
Speaker 1: for these flights with NASA hugely important from a scientific

684
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:17,839
Speaker 1: point of view. So all the best for Atmoss and

685
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:20,399
Speaker 1: what's ahead. Thanks for coming on the Business of Tech.

686
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:29,640
Speaker 1: Thanks better, thanks to Mark Rocket for coming on the

687
00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:34,120
Speaker 1: Business of Tech. What incredible experience he had back in July.

688
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:39,720
Speaker 1: Would I want to take a ride on Blue Origins Rocket? Hell? Yeah,

689
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:44,480
Speaker 1: it's risky. Rockets still regularly blow up, But to have

690
00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 1: that opportunity to join the exclusive club of people who

691
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:52,759
Speaker 1: have gone to space and look back at Earth is

692
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:56,320
Speaker 1: pretty neat. Blue Origin hasn't disclosed what a seat on

693
00:34:56,480 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 1: New Shepherd actually costs. I've seen estimates ranging f from

694
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:03,640
Speaker 1: a couple hundred thousand dollars to well over a million.

695
00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 1: Let's face it, it will remain the domain of well

696
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:11,240
Speaker 1: healed space tourists for some time to come, and Jeff

697
00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:14,600
Speaker 1: Bezos has had plenty of criticism for that. But you know,

698
00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:17,799
Speaker 1: the more flights they do on New Shepherd actually does

699
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:22,239
Speaker 1: yield scientific data. It helps lay the foundation for when

700
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:26,280
Speaker 1: commuting to space stations and even bases on the Moon becomes,

701
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,680
Speaker 1: if not a normal undertaking, certainly a heck of a

702
00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:33,360
Speaker 1: lot more common than it is now. I really like

703
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:37,240
Speaker 1: Mark's commitment to ethical innovation. He believes New Zealand's aerospace

704
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 1: sector should focus on solutions for environmental resilience, humanitarian use,

705
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:47,280
Speaker 1: advanced aviation, sort of staying true to our national values.

706
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:50,319
Speaker 1: But as he admitted, the world is changing and our

707
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:54,680
Speaker 1: values are changing too, And the elephant in the room

708
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:58,560
Speaker 1: is the big spend going on in most Western countries

709
00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:03,200
Speaker 1: at the behest off the Trump administration into defense, and

710
00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:08,160
Speaker 1: that has implications for the space realm as well. The

711
00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:11,279
Speaker 1: Aerospace Summit is set for octoberty eighth in christ Church.

712
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:15,320
Speaker 1: As Mark said, the industry isn't really about launching rockets

713
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:19,120
Speaker 1: by and large, it's about building space systems, the skills,

714
00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:23,320
Speaker 1: the ethical frameworks to take full advantage off the multi

715
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:27,600
Speaker 1: billion dollar opportunity that awaits. It's about regulation as well

716
00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:31,600
Speaker 1: in creating an environment that encourages innovation in our tahua

717
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:36,920
Speaker 1: as aerospace advances rapidly. So thanks for listening to the

718
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:40,120
Speaker 1: Business of Tech thanks to our sponsor two Degrees. Next week,

719
00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:44,319
Speaker 1: two experts join me to unpack what exactly is going

720
00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:48,240
Speaker 1: on with tech recruitment in the current weird soft market

721
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:51,160
Speaker 1: in New Zealand and how to dodge the AI filters

722
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,200
Speaker 1: when you're applying for your next job. That's next Thursday.

723
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:55,120
Speaker 1: I'll catch you then