A new space facility has opened in Christchurch – tasked with building New Zealand’s largest unpiloted aircraft.
Kea Aerospace said its next generation aircraft, with a wingspan comparable to an Airbus A320, will fly in the stratosphere, nearly 20km above Earth.
Its chief technology officer Philipp Sueltrop said the reason for the aircraft being unpiloted is so it can “fly for weeks at a time”.
“For that we need to carry more batteries, we need to collect more solar. And with that, in mind, the aircraft gets a lot bigger.”
Flying at an altitude of 60,000 feet, the aircraft will have a wingspan of 35ms and will be equipped with high-resolution cameras and radar, making them potentially a cheaper alternative to satellites.
Kea Aerospace chief executive officer Mark Rocket said it will be used for Earth observation as well as applications such as environmental monitoring, maritime domain awareness, precision agriculture and disaster response.
The new facility will provide the room and capability needed to manufacture, assemble and test aircraft at scale.
ChristchurchNZ aerospace growth sector lead Emma Renowden said aerospace was “one of the key growth sectors” in the city and Canterbury.
“So we have a strategy, you know, that by 2035 we want to see, you know, $1 billion in GDP to the local economy, 1500 people employed… this opening today is a sign of that.”
The opening is also expected to attract plenty of global interest.
University of Auckland physics professor Richard Easther said: “If you put satellite in low Earth orbit, it will spent about 15 minutes a day above New Zealand and will cost you millions of dollars.”
“Whereas, if you put something like this over the skies of New Zealand, it will spend 24 hours of each day over New Zealand and will probably cost you less.”
At the last count, the space sector contributed nearly $2.5 billion to New Zealand’s economy, and supported 17,000 jobs.
Space Minister Chris Penk and the chief of the air force were already in talks.
“You know the opportunities to partner well and actually get better value for the New Zealand taxpayer dollars because we’re making use of this uncrewed technology,” Penk said.
Kea Aerospace's Mark Rocket said the potential for this technology is just taking off.
“Really as a sector we need to see 10 Rocket Labs emerge to really build the jobs and build the capability for New Zealand.”
The Kea Atmos Mk2 is due to launch in three years.
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