It has now moved a little closer to this reality, this week adding the finishing touches to a giant new factory designed to produce the rocket swiftly, and on a mass scale.

Rocket Lab first arrived on the scene in 2013 promising to drive down launch costs and increase access to space through a lighter and simpler rocket design. Based on the Rutherford engine, its Electron rocket relies on an electric turbopump engine burning a cocktail of liquid oxygen and a highly refined kerosene called RP-1.

The company says the reason it believes it can achieve such lofty productions goals is a vertically integrated vehicle manufacturing process, and the fact that the primary components for the Rutherford engines can be 3D printed.