New Zealand's Rocket Lab has secured financial backing from US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin is a designer and manufacturer of missiles and fighter jets for the US military.

Rocket Lab yesterday announced Lockheed Martin, which also designed the Hubble Telescope, is investing in the company to support the development of future aerospace technologies.

The size of the investment was not disclosed.

Rocket Lab is American-owned, but founded by Kiwi Peter Beck, 36, and has its headquarters in Auckland. In December it plans to launch a "revolutionary" rocket named the Electron.

When the Electron was unveiled last year Beck said it was capable of sending satellites into space for less than US$5 million (NZ$6.6m).

The average cost to send existing rockets into space was US$133m, he said.

At 18 metres long, the Electron was significantly smaller than the average rocket length of 60m and would reduce the total time it took to launch a satellite from years to just weeks.

Lockheed Martin's chief scientist Ned Allen said the company pursued technology investments which helped it keep pace with innovation across the industry.

"Rocket Lab's work could have application in a number of aerospace domains, and we look forward to working with them to complement our overall efforts in small lift capabilities and hypersonic flight technologies," Allen said.

Beck said Rocket Lab and Lockheed Martin had worked together on collaborative research, the details of which were commercially sensitive.

Its investment in Rocket Lab would go towards the Electron development as well as other "strategic joint programmes".

Lockheed Martin would not be interested in the Electron rocket programme as a weapons platform, he said.

"It's just a totally ineffective vehicle for that sort of thing," Beck said. "It's designed to put satellites into orbit, not deliver weapon systems."

Rocket Lab also raised funds from new investors Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) and existing investors Khosla Ventures and Sir Stephen Tindall's K1W1 investment fund to complete the Electron launch system and begin operations as a commercial launch provider by as early as next year. Details of the investments were confidential.

Rocket Lab was the first private company to reach space in the southern hemisphere in 2009 with its Atea 1 suborbital sounding rocket. The company then won contracts with Lockheed Martin, DARPA and Aeroject Rocket-dyne.

Beck last year said he hoped to launch one rocket a week once the Rocket Lab started regular manufacturing of Electron rockets.