Active and proposed spaceports in New Zealand and Australia

A private company, the Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre, is now looking for private investors to establish its own commercial spaceport in New Zealand after the government has pulled back from any further investment, after allocating $35 million into the project since 2021.

Tāwhaki says it has several European companies interested in a spaceport at Kaitorete Spit south of Christchurch. Plans “just need commercial ignition”, said acting chief executive John Holt.

The government has all but ruled out any further capital investment in the near term due to fiscal constraints, and an official briefing said the lack of subsidies for launch pads was a “key challenge”.

But Holt expected overseas investment could establish a test pad for rockets within two years. “There is a lot more intensity around vertical launch services” than just a year ago, he told RNZ. He heads to the United States this week and has just returned from Europe talking to potential investors. There were “less than five” interested, he said, and would not name them.

The map to the right shows the operating spaceports in this region with the red dots. Tawhaki is indicate by the red “X.”

Whether this proposed spaceport can get investors is very unclear. There are a lot of similar spaceports being proposed, and the competition is fierce. And based on the track record of private spaceports such as this, not linked with any specific rocket company, it appears unlikely. The only investors it can hope for would be to get some rocket startup to commit to using this location. In Europe right now no startup lacks a launch site, which explains why he wasn’t able to seal any deal there. In the U.S. there are some possibilities, but whether this site will be appealing is not clear.