Small satellite launcher Rocket Lab unveils plans to recover its rockets midair with helicopters
Small satellite launcher Rocket Lab is following in the footsteps of rocket behemoth SpaceX with plans to make its rockets reusable. But Rocket Lab won't be landing its vehicles in the same fashion as SpaceX's Falcon 9. Instead, the company plans to catch its rockets in mid-air with a helicopter after they've fallen back to Earth.
Rocket Lab announced these plans today at the Small Satellite Conference in Utah. The company says the goal is to increase the frequency of launches of its primary rocket, called the Electron. By saving the vehicles when they return to Earth, Rocket Lab hopes to turn them around and re-launch them again as soon as possible. And that shouldn't be too difficult since some of the vehicle's machinery runs on electric batteries.
[...] To recover its rockets, Rocket Lab envisions a complicated system involving ships, helicopters, and parachutes. After launch, the Electron rocket will ascend and break apart in space, with the upper portion of the rocket continuing deeper into orbit and the lower portion falling back to the planet. That bottom portion of the rocket will reenter Earth's atmosphere — hopefully intact — and then deploy a parachute to slow its fall. In the meantime, a helicopter will take off from a ship and attempt to snag the rocket's parachute in the sky. The helicopter will then deposit the rocket back at the ship.
(Score: 3, Informative) by pTamok on Thursday August 08 2019, @08:39AM (4 children)
The concept of retrieving stuff from space by capturing it while it parachutes down after re-entry is an old one.
It was used to retrieve the exposed film from Corona reconnaissance satellites:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(satellite)#Recovery [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-air_retrieval [wikipedia.org]
Of course, you are limited by the maximum safe load a helicopter can carry, which will limit the maximum size of object (booster) that can be retrieved in this way. I suspect a booster that lands itself can be bigger.
The Corona programme used fixed wing aircraft to capture the canister. I don't see a way of making that viable for boosters.
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Thursday August 08 2019, @08:45AM (2 children)
VTOL style drone that can belly-grab the booster, and then re-level itself for resumed flight? Or if you don't like the drone aspect, call Tom Cruise.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday August 08 2019, @09:16AM (1 child)
Naaahhh... he'll just fly upside down, take a photo then jump on couches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 08 2019, @11:49AM
Now I want a -1 mod for "Too many memes."
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 08 2019, @05:03PM
The relevant comparison is probably ULA's upcoming Vulcan rocket:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_(rocket) [wikipedia.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]