Ahuriri Point is the southernmost point of the

Māhia Peninsula Māhia Peninsula (Maori: or ) is located on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, in the Hawke's Bay region, between the towns of Wairoa and Gisborne. Rocket Lab has set up its Launch Complex 1 close to Ahuriri Point at the southe ...

, in the northern

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

Region of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

's eastern

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

Portland Island Portland Island, also called Waikawa, is a small island off the southern tip of the Māhia Peninsula on the North Island of New Zealand. It is used for sheep farming. The area of the island fluctuates rapidly between high and low tides due to ...

lies 1200 metres to the south of Ahuriri Point.

Rocket range

The

Rocket Lab Rocket Lab is a public American aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider, with a New Zealand subsidiary. The company operates lightweight Electron orbital rockets, which provide dedicated launches for small satellites. Rocket Lab also ...

company has set up their Launch Complex 1 close to Ahuriri Point to launch their

Electron The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no kn ...

rocket. Test launches of the Electron started in 2017. During regular operations, it is used as a commercial launcher of small satellites in the range of 300-500 pounds, and miniature satellites called

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats ...

s.Rocket Lab Plans Electron Test Launches This Year
Jeff Foust, ''Space News''. 19 April 2016. New Zealand's first orbital space launch took place from Launch Complex 1 on 21 January 2018.

References

Māhia Peninsula Landforms of the Hawke's Bay Region Headlands of New Zealand {{HawkesBay-geo-stub