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December 13, 2022
Greens take aim at rocket launches
Peter Verschaffelt
Posted On December 13, 2022
Download AudioThe Greens are calling for legislation changes so there’s greater transparency of Rocketlab payload launched into space from the Mahia peninsula.
Green MP Teanau Tuiono wants to see more transparency about the payloads Rocketlab is launching from the Mahia Peninsula.
He says many local Maori are concerned about what US military and spy agencies may be putting into space.
He says it also can create problems for Aotearoa New Zealand’s foreign policy.
“So for example last year they launched Gunsmoke J and that was an experimental payload about how to better coordinate live combat so that’s not good, having that stuff launched form Aotearoa’s soil, so we need more transparency so we know what the process is and how these things got to be authorised in the first place,” Mr Tuiono says.
He says the militarisation of space is about dominance of the earth, and he expects New Zealanders to feel about that as they did about nuclear warships.
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