Tonight's Hi-Tech awards in Christchurch have attracted a record number of entries across a diverse field of industry.
One of the finalists is Dawn Aerospace, a Kiwi company aiming to take unmanned planes to space. With no launch pad needed, the Kiwi-built spaceplane is rocket powered, unmanned and capable of flying return missions in a single day.
The next step is taking the Mark II Aurora spaceplane higher and higher - up to 100km to the edge of space.
Eventually it's hoped the Mark III Aurora will go further into orbit and be about the size of an ATR jet.
Headquartered in Christchurch, and founded by the Powell brothers, Dawn Aerospace is already a keen player in the space industry, its core business is providing in-space propulsion technology for satellites.
Co-founder, James Powell, told Seven Sharp the Mark II, a suborbital vehicle, will collect data from the upper reaches of the atmosphere which will help with climate modelling and weather forecasting.
READ MORE: Christchurch-based aerospace company unveils new suborbital spaceplane
"It will also help us figure out how to build the first stage of the orbital system and make that rapidly re-useable, which will make it much more sustainable and cost-effective."
He said he's not aware of any other companies operating the same technology on a global scale.
Powell said the beauty of the technology is that the space planes are re-usable and sustainable - but are not designed to carry people at this point.
"Our application is for satellites and payloads like that, not people."
He said the company is already growing exponentially.
"We are always recruiting and growing as fast as we can. We are always looking for the best and brightest people who want to make a difference and work on something that we think is pretty cool."
Dawn Aerospace has operations in New Zealand, the Netherlands, and the United States.
SHARE ME