Rocket Lab is a rapidly expanding commercial spaceflight company that wants to emulate the success of SpaceX.
Like its rival, Rocket Lab wants to build a system that can be used again and again to help it cut the cost of its space missions.
The two companies have different approaches to rocket recovery. The landing process for the first stage of the Falcon 9 booster is already nailed by the company, but Rocket Lab has been fishing its own boosters out of the ocean. It is preparing for its first-ever attempt at grabbing a falling Electron booster from the sky using a helicopter.
A helicopter will attempt to catch the first stage of the Electron rocket just a few minutes after it is launched from its facility in New.
The attempt will take place off the coast of New Zealand. The booster will slow its descent with parachutes. This will allow the helicopter to make a close approach before using a grappling hook to grab the parachute and the booster. After the helicopter lands, the component will be assessed for use in another mission.
Two years ago, the company succeeded in plucking a dummy booster from the sky in a practice mission.
Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, said that they have conducted many successful helicopter captures with replica stages, carried out extensive parachute tests, and successfully recovered the first stage from the ocean during the upcoming mission. It is time to put it all together for the first time.
Trying to catch a rocket as it falls back to Earth is no easy task, but we expect to learn a lot from the mission.
The more powerful two-stage rocket called Neutron is being developed by Rocket Lab and is capable of both satellite deployment and even crewed spaceflight.
The first flight of the new rocket will be in 2024. In this case, Rocket Lab plans to land the first-stage booster the same way as it does with the Falcon 9 and not use a helicopter.
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