Reaching for the stars

Kaitorete Spit is technically the best site in Aotearoa for aerospace.

The moment you turn off State Highway 1 and head towards Kaitorete, you immediately feel like you’re in a different place to anywhere else in Waitaha (Canterbury),” says David Perenara-O’Connell, referring to the long finger of land that juts west from Banks Peninsula between Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere) and the Pacific Ocean.

This place is home to Tāwhaki, a partnership established between Wairewa Rūnanga and Te Taumutu Rūnanga – the communities at either end of Kaitorete who are mana whenua for this special place – and the Crown. The name speaks to the history of the demi-god Tāwhaki, and the future of people and the planet is at the heart of the partnership.

The 50/50 joint venture is embedded with two key purposes – to heal and rejuvenate the whenua (land) and to advance Aotearoa’s aerospace industry.

Tāwhaki was seeded by mana whenua’s fundamental focus to rejuvenate the land and rebuild communities. That seed grew through conversations between mana whenua, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, ChristchurchNZ, and the Department of Conservation around the site’s unique values – both in the sense of environment and potential for innovation – and in May 2021, the root of Tāwhaki appeared.

The venture is based on Kaitorete as a location: it is technically the best site in Aotearoa for aerospace and space launch activity. Vast skies, clear airways, remote seas to the south and easy access to international seaports, airports, world-class universities, and Aotearoa’s second-largest city – all of this unlocked the idea of aerospace as our transformational economic opportunity.

David Perenara-O’Connell talks about Tāwhaki on Kaitorete Spit. 

Now Tāwhaki has established itself as Aotearoa’s first multi-use aerospace research site, already providing services to some local operators – *Kea Aerospace, Swoop Aero, Aerosearch, and Pyper Vision – to test, research and trial their innovative technologies and gathering invaluable data.

Tāwhaki holds deep values and principles, yet innovation thrives on flexibility and the possible, so it’s a partnership that has a fine balance. David says operators coming to test their technologies understand what the whenua is grounded in, while the rūnanga recognise there’s a realm of innovation they can enable. This approach is captured in a whakatauki, “While we look to the sky, so must we keep our feet firmly in the whenua.”

The aerospace companies involved with Tāwhaki are committed to job creation and environmental sustainability – all of which will provide regenerative opportunities for our communities, city, and region. This commitment is an international drawcard for people who see the connection between our indigenous people, space, and environmental rejuvenation.

 Ōtautahi Christchurch is the centre for aerospace in Aotearoa.

 “We’ve got all the core ingredients to make this the centrepiece for the country’s space industry in the 21st century,” David says.

Sponsored by ChristchurchNZ who support Christchurch’s aerospace cluster.

**An earlier version of this article stated that Dawn Aerospace was using Kaitorete Spit for testing, however, they are not a current user.