Ahuriri Point is the southernmost point of the

Māhia Peninsula Māhia Peninsula () 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. It includes Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1, located near Ahuriri Point at the southern tip ...

, in the northern

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

Region of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

's eastern

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

. Portland Island lies 1200 metres to the south of Ahuriri Point.

Rocket range

The

Rocket Lab Rocket Lab Corporation is a Public company, publicly traded aerospace manufacturer and List of launch service providers, launch service provider. Its Rocket Lab Electron, Electron orbital rocket launches Small satellite, small satellites, and ha ...

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

Electron The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary charge, elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up qua ...

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 small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

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 Hawke's Bay Headlands of New Zealand {{HawkesBay-geo-stub