The world has entered a new space age - one dominated by commercial players like Elon Musk and New Zealand's own Peter Beck.
Q+A's Corin Dann spoke to Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck about the company's latest venture.
"Right now in the world, there's two private companies that are putting spacecraft onto orbit. There's Elon Musk's SpaceX and Rocket Lab," Mr Beck said.
However, Rocket Lab's cost for launch is dramatically cheaper than that of SpaceX - $60mil to Rocket Lab's $5mil.
"It's about a third the rocket, a third regulatory and a third infrastructure, so it's about not just focusing on the rocket.
"If you have a spacecraft and you want to dedicate it right into orbit, gobally, we are the most affordable right now."
Mr Beck says the company has a unique advantage "not just with the technology, but with the location of the launch site in New Zealand".
"The launch site is a critical, critical element of our business and our success, quite frankly."
However, Mr Beck says the lack of funding and investment in New Zealand companies means having to take the business elsewhere.
"It's unfortunate that those [SuperFund, Kiwisaver] funds aren't being used to back New Zealand companies, that's for sure.
"We start off as New Zealand companies but we get to a point where we start to become globally successful, and to be globally successful, it's very difficult to do that from New Zealand."
The US-owned company's latest satellite launch, dubbed 'It's Business Time', has been delayed, but a new launch date is expected soon.
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