There was a controlled termination of the July 5 flight after it started sliding backwards about three minutes into its second-stage burn.
The failure came amid a Rocket Lab attempt to demonstrated its "warp-speed" capability to carry out a launch every three weeks.
But early in the investigation process, CEO Peter Beck told the Herald the problem had likely been "baked-in" months ago during the manufacturing process.
Today's news indicates the founder's hunch was correct.
Beck said customers' insurance would cover the cost of the failed mission's cargo, which included a 67kg Canon Electronics satellite for taking ultra-high resolution photos from orbit.
The mission was called "Pics or it Didn't Happen" in a nod to its Earth-imaging cargo.
Problem replicated
Rocket Lab's Accident Investigation Board (AIB) worked through an extensive fault tree analysis to examine all potential causes for the anomaly that took place late into company's launch.
On July 5, the Electron launch vehicle successfully lifted-off from Launch Complex 1 and proceeded through a nominal first stage engine burn, Stage 1-2 separation, Stage 2 ignition, and fairing jettison as planned, Rocket Lab said in its statement this morning.
Several minutes into the second stage burn, the engine performed a safe shutdown resulting in a failure to reach orbit. Due to the controlled way the engine shut down, Rocket Lab continued to receive telemetry from the vehicle, providing engineers with extensive data to conduct a robust investigation into the issue.
After reviewing more than 25,000 channels of data and carrying out extensive testing, Rocket Lab's AIB was able to confidently narrow the issue down to a single anomalous electrical connection.
This connection was intermittently secure through flight, creating increasing resistance that caused heating and thermal expansion in the electrical component. This caused the surrounding potting compounds to liquefy, leading to the disconnection of the electrical system and subsequent engine shutdown.
The issue evaded pre-flight detection as the electrical connection remained secure during standard environmental acceptance testing including vibration, thermal vacuum, and thermal cycle tests.
Beck said the issue had never been observed before across the company's previous 12 Electron launches.
"The issue occurred under incredibly specific and unique circumstances, causing the connection to fail in a way that we wouldn't detect with standard testing. Our team has now reliably replicated the issue in test and identified that it can be mitigated through additional testing and procedures," Beck said.
He added that the Rocket Lab team was immensely grateful for the continued support of customers and the FAA as the company worked meticulously through the flight investigation.
"It's a testament to Electron's track record of reliability that the FAA has approved us for return to flight already. Electron was the fourth most frequently launched rocket in the world last year and prior to the anomaly we had deployed 53 customer payloads to orbit without fail. Returning to the pad with an even more reliable vehicle for our mission partners is our top priority."
Rocket Lab will return to the pad this month to launch a dedicated mission from Launch Complex 1 Pad A on New Zealand's Māhia Peninsula. Specific details of the launch window and customer will be provided in the coming days.
