Rocket Lab

To more Small launch firm Rocket Lab USA Inc on Monday captured a falling rocket stage out of the air with a helicopter before dropping it in the ocean, ...

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Rocket Lab successfully caught a falling rocket stage in mid-air using a helicopter, before dropping it in the ocean.

But the helicopter pilots were forced to release the rocket from the cable and dunk it into the Pacific Ocean after noticing "different load characteristics" than what had been experienced during previous capture tests, a Rocket Lab spokesperson later confirmed. In a post on Twitter, the company confirmed its There and Back Again mission had successfully used a helicopter to catch part of the launched rocket as it fell back to earth. Rocket Lab successfully caught a falling rocket stage in mid-air using a helicopter, before dropping it in the ocean.

Rocket Lab USA is developing technology to recover the first stages of its reusable rockets with helicopters. It could open up more launch areas.

Rocket Lab USA is developing technology to recover the first stages of its reusable rockets with helicopters. Rocket Lab (ticker: RKLB) shares are up about 0.5% in early trading Tuesday. The S&P 500 is up about 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has added about 0.2%. Rocket Lab Caught a Rocket in Midair. Here’s Why That’s Practical, Not a Stunt.

The plan is to build a better replica of the rocket booster to use in simulations so that the helicopter pilots won't be caught off guard by the physics ...

And compared to the millions of dollars it takes to manufacture a new rocket, renting the helicopter to attempt recovery only costs about $4,000 or $5,000 per hour, Beck noted. Beck said he hasn't ruled out attempting to re-use the rocket booster from Monday's mission. So, even when and if Rocket Lab does master this rocket recovery technique, it's possible the company won't be able to use it on every mission. So they dropped the rocket into the ocean, something the company hoped to avoid because sea water is corrosive and damaging to electronic components. Then the helicopter made its approach, using a 150-foot line of rope from its belly with a hook at the bottom to intercept rocket. When a larger parachute deployed, Beck said the rocket slowed to just 22 miles per hour, or 10 meters per second, allowing the helicopter pilots to match its speed.

In making its boosters reusable, Rocket Lab would be able to launch more often while simultaneously decreasing the material cost of each mission.

Reusing it would bring significant savings for the company and shrink the number of boosters it needs to produce. The helicopter flies with a crew of three: A pilot, a co-pilot and a spotter. (Rocket Lab loses about 10% of payload capacity on the Electron in its reusable configuration.) While the test had "a ton of margin," Beck said, Rocket Lab used "really conservative estimates" to maximize safety during the catch. Beck said the rocket is in "excellent" condition and that the pilot "made the right call." Rocket Lab wants to make its rocket boosters reusable, like those of Elon Musk's SpaceX, but with a very different approach.

Rocket Lab test successfully hooks booster in midair before having to drop it into South Pacific.

Onboard systems oriented the rocket to minimise damage from its impact with the water. Peter Beck, the founder and chief executive of Rocket Lab, said: “Bringing a rocket back from space and catching it with a helicopter is something of a supersonic ballet. The rocket stage made a controlled splash down in the ocean after its brief capture.

If Rocket Lab can snatch its spent rocket booster from the sky and then reuse it for another orbital launch, it will pull off something so far achieved only ...

This one was called “There and Back Again,” a nod to the recovery of the booster as well as the subtitle of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” novel. Before the end of this year, Rocket Lab hopes to start using a second launch site on Wallops Island in Virginia. Mr. Beck said eventually Rocket Lab would like to catch boosters for about half of its missions. With almost all of its propellant expended, the booster was much lighter than at launch. “If we came in flat, for example, on the side, the rocket would just burn up,” Mr. Beck said. “There we go, we’ve got our first glimpse of it,” said Murielle Baker, the commentator during the Rocket Lab broadcast.

Rocket Lab, which aims to launch satellites into space quickly and cheaply, said it just used a helicopter catch part of a rocket in mid-air.

The Cold War-era technique was similar to the one attempted by Rocket Lab: the film canister fell to Earth from outer space and used parachutes to slow its descent so that planes could nab the intel. For this first one though, we want to eliminate weather as a consideration so we can focus solely on the catch and supporting operations." The company has said Electron is not large enough to carry the fuel supply needed for an upright landing, and a saltwater ocean landing can cause corrosion and physical damage. A helicopter waited to snag the booster's parachute with a hook. Catching the rocket booster mid-air is a big part of Electron's eventual goal: reusable rockets. The mission deployed 34 satellite payloads for a number of commercial operators, bringing the total number of Electron-launched satellites in space to 146.

Space company Rocket Lab on Monday will attempt to catch the booster of its Electron rocket using a helicopter.

The company conducted a variety of tests over the last couple years as it worked on the midair recovery concept. Rocket Lab wants to make its rocket boosters reusable, like those of Elon Musk's SpaceX, but with a very different approach. "This is a monumental step forward in our program to make electron a reusable launch vehicle." "After the catch the helicopter pilot noticed different load characteristics than we've experienced in testing ... at his discretion, the pilot offloaded the [booster] for a successful splashdown where it has been recovered by our [ship] for transport back to our factory," Rocket Lab senior communications advisor Murielle Baker said on the company's webcast. - "After the catch the helicopter pilot noticed different load characteristics than we've experienced in testing ... at his discretion, the pilot offloaded the [booster] for a successful splashdown where it has been recovered by our [ship] for transport back to our factory," Rocket Lab senior communications advisor Murielle Baker said on the company's webcast. - Catching the rocket booster with Rocket Lab's Sikorsky S-92 helicopter and returning it was the secondary goal of the mission.

Rocket Lab Monday capped off its latest satellite launch by snagging a falling rocket booster using a hook suspended from a helicopter, a first in the ...

The company hopes to launch the first Neutron in 2024. Rocket Lab’s midair recovery project is part of an endeavor to make Electron the first reusable small satellite launcher. This will enable Rocket Lab to make more frequent launches, the company said. The Electron is already one of the most prolific small satellite launchers, having put 146 satellites into orbit over 26 launches since 2017, the company said. U.S.-based satellite launch provider Rocket Lab used a helicopter to snag a used rocket booster in midair during a launch Monday, a maneuver the company says brings it closer to developing the first fully reusable small satellite launcher. The booster will next be transported to Rocket Lab’s Auckland production complex for analysis, the company said.

It's an important step in the company's plan to make its Electron rockets reusable, an achievement it says would reduce costs and increase launch frequency. In ...

Small satellite launch company Rocket Lab will attempt to catch one of its Electron rockets in mid-air after launch, using a helicopter to snag the vehicle ...

Additionally, the path that Electron takes to orbit will influence Rocket Lab’s decision to try a helicopter catch. If the helicopter successfully catches Electron, the company will fly the booster back to New Zealand and offload it on a truck. This will be the first time that Rocket Lab attempts to catch one of its Electron rockets with a helicopter, part of the company’s plan to recover and reuse its vehicles after launch. Rocket Lab will then take a closer look at the vehicle to see how it fared. And the company used a helicopter to capture a dummy rocket in mid-air (though the fake booster didn’t fall from space but was instead released from another helicopter nearby). Morgan Bailey, Rocket Lab’s director of communications, says the company will try to provide a livestream of the event, and there’s even going to be a camera on the helicopter’s capture line. “I think a lot of people think the hardest thing is catching the rocket, and that it certainly is hard,” Beck says. As the rocket leisurely floats down toward the ocean, that’s when the helicopter will arrive and attempt to capture the line of the parachute with a dangling hook, avoiding a splashdown in salty seawater. 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. It then came into view of the company’s helicopter, which then successfully caught the rocket for a few brief moments. Rocket Lab also claims that recovering and reusing its rockets could also help speed up its flight cadence. “At his discretion, the pilot offloaded the stage for a successful splashdown, where it has been recovered by our vessel for transport back to our factory,” Murielle Baker, a communications representative for Rocket Lab, said during the launch livestream.

It was a huge moment for Rocket Lab and its quest to make its Electron launch vehicle partially reusable. Rocket Lab just did something we've never seen ...

Electron won't be the only launcher in Rocket Lab's stable for much longer, if all goes according to plan. But the 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron is too small to do that; the first-stage boosters cannot carry sufficient fuel to have enough left over for landing operations, Rocket Lab representatives have said. The company has a history of giving its flights playful names, and it dubbed this one "There And Back Again." All are scheduled to be deployed into a sun-synchronous orbit about 323 miles (520 kilometers) above Earth by an hour after liftoff. About 15 minutes after liftoff, as the booster glided toward the Pacific Ocean, a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter sidled up close to it and snagged the parachute line with a hook. "We have successfully caught that Electron booster underneath the parachute!"

Following a 10.49am launch, a customised twin-engined Sikorsky S-92 helicopter captured the Electron rocket's booster at 11.06am by hooking its parachute line ...

It will be designed to land back on the launch pad after a mission and from there it would be returned to a production complex for refurbishment and relaunch. • At T+2:30 minutes after lift-off, Electron's first and second stages will separate per a standard mission profile. Incredible catch by the recovery team, can't begin to explain how hard that catch was and that the pilots got it. Its top speed is 306km/h. Based at Mercer Airfield south of Auckland, the US-made model is billed as the largest helicopter in New Zealand. It's owned by Advanced Flight. "Incredible catch by the recovery team, can't begin to explain how hard that catch was and that the pilots got it. (Start watching the clip below at the 52-minute mark for the immediate build-up to the grab.

It was only a qualified success, however, with founder Peter Beck posting shortly after the capture: "Incredible catch by the recovery team, can't begin to ...

It will be designed to land back on the launch pad after a mission and from there it would be returned to a production complex for refurbishment and relaunch. • At T+2:30 minutes after lift-off, Electron's first and second stages will separate per a standard mission profile. Its top speed is 306km/h. Based at Mercer Airfield south of Auckland, the US-made model is billed as the largest helicopter in New Zealand. It's owned by Advanced Flight. The pilot requested anonymity. (Start watching the clip below at the 52-minute mark for the immediate build-up to the grab. The launch is at around the 37-minute mark.) "Incredible catch by the recovery team, can't begin to explain how hard that catch was and that the pilots got it.