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 Morro Rock to City Center in the east; accessed by going through Union Street. The island has some of the best views of Night City, as such it is a popular tourist destination.

Early history
Morro Rock was a volcanic batholith that was formed thousands of years ago. In the 19th century, the area near the Rock was chosen to build a settlement 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 Morro Rock and expel the gangs. With this, after rearranging the terrain, the batholith 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, though 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 that destroyed much of the city.

2030s - 2070s
In the 2030s, Morro Rock was still an unsettled small island off the shore of a rebuilding metropolis. It wasn't until the 2040s when interest was pointed towards it. 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 following years, the island's terrain was rearranged and greatly expanded, turning the whole area into a spaceport and airport. Now, Morro Rock was a sizeable island west of Night City, with installations capable of transporting people and merchandise across the globe and its 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.

2045

 * Orbital Air Housing Block #3
 * Orbital Air Massdriver

2077

 * Orbital Air Space Center

Development
Morro Rock was not in the original and  because in the lore it had been covered up with fill. If the original maps had shown elevations, it would have been possible to see the city rise to the northwest. After 2023, the fill above the Rock was used to cover parts of the bay and the crater left by the nuke, leaving Morro Rock on full view for the citizens. This explanation has been presumably omitted following the subsequent releases, considering that already shows Morro Rock in 2020 as an island.

In order to match with the world, Morro Rock was moved to the west in Cyberpunk RED, and it is in a different location than its real counterpart.

Early versions of Night City for Cyberpunk 2077 included an underwater tunnel that went from Watson to Pacifica, going right under the island and connecting to it. This was eventually scrapped at some point, though the northern entrance of the tunnel still remains in the game. It can be found to the southeast of Konpeki Plaza, accessed by two closed roads that originate from the Night City ringroad.

Trivia

 * Before being turned into an island, this was the same Morro Rock as in real life, albeit, not in the exact same location. 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 latter is considered a very large area with more than 100 square kilometers (40 sq miles).