Atea-1 rocket booster found

A booster from New Zealand's first home-grown space rocket has been found in good condition.

The first stage booster was located by a fisherman about half an hour by boat from Great Mercury Island, off the Coromandel coast, this morning.

Rocket Lab director Mark Rocket said the booster, which provided the main thrust to launch the rocket, would provide valuable data about how the engine burnt.

The payload had not been found and was likely to be "bobbing in the ocean" about 50km away, he said.

Mr Rocket was optimistic of finding the payload in good condition and urged any marine traffic in the area to keep a lookout and take note of GPS co-ordinates.

The rocket, dubbed Manu Karere, or Bird Messenger, was launched from Great Mercury Island yesterday afternoon.

The six-metre long, 60kg, rocket reached its target speed of up to Mach 5, or 5000kmh, and flew to an altitude of at least 100km before splashing down.

Mr Rocket said once found, the payload should not be handled as it was "potentially hazardous" and contained delicate instruments.

ANOTHER LAUNCH

Mr Rocket said the next step after recovering the payload and analysing the data would be planning for the next launch, which could be early next year.

Rocket Lab was a space launch business and there was massive interest in the company's products from around the world, he said.

"It's not trivial sending something into space. This is a huge technological leap for New Zealand."

Yesterday's launch was delayed by seven hours when an fuel line aerocoupler froze, tethering the rocket to its launch pad.

A helicopter was sent to Whitianga to pick up another hydraulic coupling - worth about $6 - from an engineering supplier.

While the Atea-1 is New Zealand's first home-grown and privately-funded space rocket it is not the first to be launched from these shores.

In 1963 an imported rocket was launched to a height of about 75km to conduct upper atmospheric research in a joint venture between Canterbury University's physics department and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

It was launched from Birdlings Flat, 44km southeast of Christchurch, spent about 2 1/2 minutes airborne and landed in the sea.

- NZPA