New Zealand's Sky Guard and ULA's Rocket Race

New Zealand plans legislation to control satellite monitoring, preventing entities lacking shared values from exploiting its unique geographic advantages. Meanwhile, United Launch Alliance aims to upgrade its Vulcan rocket to compete with SpaceX's Starship, targeting the booming low Earth orbit market dominated by SpaceX's Starlink service.

New Zealand is taking proactive steps to safeguard its skies as the government announces new legislation aimed at regulating who can monitor satellites. Set for introduction next year, the law seeks to block entities that don't align with national values from using the country as a satellite monitoring hub.

The nation's strategic South Pacific location and favorable meteorological conditions make it an ideal launch and observation site, already attracting partners like the European Space Agency.

In the competitive realm of space launches, United Launch Alliance (ULA), a Boeing-Lockheed Martin collaboration, is plotting an upgrade to its Vulcan rocket. ULA's goal is to pose a significant challenge to SpaceX's Starship by capitalizing on the burgeoning market for low Earth orbit satellite launches, an arena where SpaceX's Starlink is already a formidable player.

(With inputs from agencies.)