Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Officials on Friday scrubbed launch of a satellite from New Zealand that spits out artificial shooting stars for expensive light shows in the sky.
The satellite, built by Japan-based Astro Live Experiences, or ALE Co. Ltd., was packed on board an Electron rocket made by a new space company, Rocket Lab.
The company tweeted just before the planned launch time that "We're standing down ... to conduct further tests on ground systems. ... The window remains open until 12 December."
This was to be the 10th launch for Huntington Beach, Calif.-based Rocket Lab and its eighth commercial launch. It also was to be the first time that Rocket Lab has tested navigation telemetry on its first-stage booster as it attempts to fly back to Earth.
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The company did not plan to to recover the booster, but the data provided by it is to be used to help make the Electron rocket reusable. Rocket Lab intends to catch its boosters, mid-air, using a helicopter with a grappling hook that would snag a parachute line.
The company, founded by New Zealand engineer Peter Beck, launches from its own private launch pad on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island.
ALE, on its website, says "We aim to produce artificial shooting stars by projecting particles, made out of special materials, from orbiting micro-satellites. When the particles re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, they burn through a process known as plasma emission, creating the appearance of shooting stars on the ground."
The company hopes to have its shooting star satellite, ALE-2, ready by the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in June.
"With this launch, we are a step closer to realizing the man-made shooting star," said ALE's founder and CEO, Lena Okajima.
The mission has been named "Running out of Fingers" by Rocket Lab.
Also on board the Electron rocket will be six nano-satellites built by Glasgow-based Alba Orbital.
Alba Orbital provides mission management for other customers. The small satellites represent five countries and a range of technology demonstrations, including a payload built by university students in Hungary to measure human-made electromagnetic pollution and a test of new thermal-isolation material for use in space.
