Morro Rock

Morro Rock is an island in Del Coronado Bay, close to Night City's Center.

Overview
Although the original Morro Rock was small, this island is big enough to hold a full fledge spaceport and airport. A bridge connects the island with City Center in the east; accessed by going through the Spaceport Boulevard.

The island also has some of the best views of the city.

Early history
Moro Rock was a volcanic batholith that was formed thousands of years ago. In the 19th century, the regions near the Rock were chosen to build a settlement which was named Morro Bay. Unfortunately, in the last decades of the 20th century there was much violence in the town, which ended up occupied by a gang of violent bikers. Not long after, a businessmen known as Richard Night managed to buy all the terrains surrounding the Rock and expel the gangs. With this, after rearranging the terrain, Morro Rock was turned into a small island, west of the new project Night was about to start.

In 1994, Coronado City was founded on the place of the former Morro Bay town, although after Richard's death in 1998 it was renamed to Night City. During the next decades, the Rock survived the Collapse, the Mob War, and even the Fourth Corporate War and the 2023 AHQ Disaster which destroyed much of the city.

2030s - 2070s
In the 2030s, Morro Rock was still a batholith off the shore of a rebuilding metropolis. It wasn't until the 2040s when interest was pointed towards the batholith. Franklin M'bolu of Orbital Air, developer of many of the corporation's technologies, was tasked with a new project for Night City; building NC's first orbital mass driver. The location for such a massive project was chosen to be Morro Rock due to its geological stableness.

By 2045, construction was ongoing, building the mass driver within the Rock itself. When finished, it would allow spaceplanes to be launched into low Earth orbit (LEO).

During the next years, they rearranged the terrain, greatly expanded the island, and turned the whole area into an airport and spaceport. Now, Morro Rock was a sizeable island west of Night City, with installations capable of transporting people and merchandise across the globe or to the surrounding orbital stations.

By 2077, ground transportation into Night City was only advised if you were accompanied by corporate or military personnel. Instead, visitors to NC were strongly encouraged to travel by plane, using the installations on Morro Rock as the safest solution.

Locations

 * Orbital Air Space Center
 * Richard Night International Airport

Development
Morro Rock was not in the original and  because lorewise it had been covered up with fill. If the original maps had shown elevations, it'd have been possible to see the city rise to the northwest. After 2023, the fill there was used to cover the crater left by the nuke, leaving the Rock on view for the city citizens.

Considering that already shows Morro Rock in 2020, this explanation has been presumably omitted.

Trivia

 * Before being turned into an island, this was the same Morro Rock as in real life. In, the only resemblance is in the name.
 * In real life, Morro Rock is a volcanic plug rather than a batholith. The former tends to be smaller while the later is considered a very large area with more than 100 square kilometers (40 sq miles).