Rocket students try to beat NZ record

A group of rocketry students will have to wait to know whether they have broken a New Zealand record with their latest launch.

The team from the University of Canterbury are yet to find the small supersonic rocket they launched from Kaitorete Spit on Banks Peninsula about 6pm today.

They hope to break the New Zealand altitude record for the specific class of motor the rocket uses, which stands at 1117 metres.

Prior to the launch, the 41mm-diameter, 541mm-long rocket was expected to reach an altitude of 2.6km with a maximum speed of 1425 km/h.

Twenty-three-year-old George Buchanan, who project-led the launch along with fellow final year rocketry student David Wright, says they need to find and analyse the rocket before they can celebrate.

Mr Buchanan said a combination of computer simulations and a tracking device gave them a "good idea" of where the rocket should be, however, the odds of finding the rocket were dwindling.

"If we don't find it tonight we probably won't find it. Even at the moment the battery on board has stopped so we've lost the radio transmitter on it, so it's just a visual search,'' he said.