Rocket Lab will try to catch a falling rocket with a helicopter today

Image: Rocket Lab

After nearly three years of preparation, Rocket Lab will attempt to catch one of its rockets in mid-air today, after launching the vehicle to space from New Zealand. As the rocket falls back to Earth, Rocket Lab will use a helicopter to try to grab the booster just before it hits the ocean. The rocket could be launched again.

This will be the first time that Rocket Lab attempts to catch one of its rockets with a helicopter, part of the company's plan to recover and reuse its vehicles after launch. Up until now, the Electron has mostly been an expendable rocket. After each flight, most of the rockets are destroyed.

The manufacturing cost of building an entirely new rocket for each of the missions is something Rocket Lab hopes to cut down on by catching and reuse its rockets after flight. The goal is similar to that of the company, which has become famous for its landing and reuse of its rockets. It saves a lot of time if you bring one back because you don't have to build a whole new rocket.

The booster is guided back through Earth's atmosphere by computers on board the vehicle so that it stays intact during the fall to the ground. Once the rocket reaches an altitude of about 8.3 miles up, it deploys a drogue parachute to slow its fall, followed by a main parachute. The helicopter will arrive and attempt to capture the line of the parachute with a dangling hook, avoiding a splashdown in salty seawater.

The recovery plan for Rocket Lab has been in the works since the beginning of the year. The guidance and control system was tested by Rocket Lab. It is one of the most difficult parts of the process for Rocket Lab.

The company retrieved three rockets from the water to learn more about their journeys back to Earth after splashing down intact Electron rockets in the ocean. Engineers at the company were able to open up the rockets and remove some of the components in order to fly them again. The ability to deploy its various parachutes was demonstrated by Rocket Lab. The company used a helicopter to capture a dummy rocket in mid-air, though the fake booster didn't fall from space but was released from another helicopter nearby.

There and Back Again is a reference to the nature of the flight and also a fitting tribute to New Zealand where The Lord and The Hobbit were filmed. The company has practiced each step, but still need to conduct them all together for one launch.

The booster will be flown back to New Zealand if the helicopter catches Electron. Rocket Lab will take a closer look at the vehicle to see how it did. In the future, Rocket Lab will be careful about which missions are recovered. The vehicle can't carry as much space as it needs due to the need for more systems onboard. The path that Electron takes will affect Rocket Lab's decision to try a helicopter catch. It will probably be 50 percent or more.

Rocket Lab needs to demonstrate that it can catch a falling rocket with a helicopter. The launch has been delayed multiple times as the company waits for the perfect weather. The helicopter catch is scheduled for about eight and a half minutes after the main parachute deploys. Morgan Bailey, Rocket Lab's director of communications, says the company will try to provide a livestream of the event, and there will be a camera on the helicopter's capture line. The company warns that maintaining connection will be difficult.

Bailey said that space is hard but so is live TV.