She called the Canterbury proposal \u201cmodest\u201d and saw how it could work on a visit to the Cape Canaveral launch site in Florida that has sent astronauts to the moon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember just seeing all of these spoonbills and birds, and they\u2019ve got manatees and it was incredible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a thriving ecosystem and you\u2019ve got the inspiration of the space industry happening there as well, and I\u2019m going, \u2018Gee, that would be pretty neat, if Canterbury could have something like that\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
T\u0101whaki, a Crown-iwi joint venture, has a double-pronged mission to boost aerospace business, and to help environmentally restore the spit and Lake Ellesmere Te Waihora next to it.<\/p>\n
It markets itself to Europe as a unique location to give launch companies there more choice.<\/p>\n
Rocket Lab\u2019s M\u0101hia is currently the only southern hemisphere launch site. Plans for new spaceports are underway in several countries, but mostly in the north.<\/p>\n
Bannister noted how Kaitorete could launch over clear oceans, as well as take advantage of the spin of the earth, being on the east coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re well clear of large areas of dense population, that\u2019s a real advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why launch sites tend to be located on the east of places as much as possible. In \u014ctautahi, we have that possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rocket fuels can be polluting, but the fuels being considered by T\u0101whaki in a feasibility study with its French partners are at the less polluting end of the spectrum \u2013 gas, not chlorine-containing solid rocket fuels.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe types of fuels that our modelling looked at have a very severe impact on stratospheric ozone.\u201d<\/p>\n
T\u0101whaki acting chief executive John Holt told RNZ\u2019s Morning Report on Thursday there was a rapidly growing, trillion-dollar launch market to tap.<\/p>\n
Bannister said the plan was about claiming a small piece of that.<\/p>\n