Rocket lab assigns 9-day window for January lift-off

Rocket Lab has given itself a new launch window for its next blast off attempt from the Mahia Peninsula.

The aerospace company had intended to launch its second Electron rocket prior to Christmas but a combination of bad weather and technical glitches meant the hotly-anticipated flight was delayed.

The company announced on Twitter today that it had set itself a new launch window of nine days from January 20.

Its target lift-off time will be between 2.30pm and 6.30pm. The event will be live-streamed.

The Rocket Lab programme aims to take small satellites into orbit for a fraction of the cost of established overseas operators.

In May it successfully launched into space from Mahia but a communications glitch meant it had to be destroyed before reaching orbit.

During the 10-day launch window before Christmas, it was within two seconds of blast-off before the rocket automatically shut itself down because of the high temperature of liquid oxygen to one engine. A power fault to ground equipment resulted in a scrub on the second to last day and on other days it was affected by high altitude winds.