rocket

 New Zealand is due to enter the space race on November 30th with the launch of a rocket made by Auckland based Rocket Lab.

Space Fellowship reports that the launch of the Atea-1 rocket on November 30th will:

• Be the first privately built rocket launched from the Southern Hemisphere to enter space
• Launch the Southern Hemisphere’s first commercial space programme
• Be the first commercial sounding rocket to use hybrid fuel technology
• Give the global scientific community the first practical alternative to conventional rockets – at significantly lower cost based aerospace company

The project is being funded by Mark Rocket a successful internet entrepreneur, and the CEO and Techical Director of Rocket Lab is Peter Beck, an award winning scientist and engineer who has been working on the design for over 15 years. The Atea-1 rocket uses super-lightweight carbon fibre components and a revolutionary fuel design, that can generate 3200 horsepower from a 13kg rocket engine. 

The rocket Manu Korere (Bird Messenger) is due for launch on Monday November 30th at 7.10 a.m. (weather permitting) using privately owned Great Mercury Island as a launch pad. Sciblogs 'The final frontier' reports on how high the Kiwi Rocket needs to go before it has officially deemed to have reached 'space'.

Beyond the stratosphere is the mesosphere (temperature decreases with height again), and beyond that is the thermosphere (temperature, for what it’s worth, does a reverse again and now increases with height.) There’s not much air left at all, and at 100 km the Karman line marks an arbitrary boundary as the ‘edge of space’.

You can follow the countdown to the Rocket Lab takeoff at twitter.com/rocketlabnz