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An Electron rocket prepares to launch.
Rocket lab
Rocket Lab, the leading company in the construction and launch of small rockets, on Thursday took what CEO Peter Beck described as a “major milestone” in its work to reuse rockets.
The company recovered the booster for its Electron rocket after it splashed into the Pacific Ocean. The recovery came after Rocket Lab’s 16th launch to date, which brought 30 satellites into orbit for a variety of customers, including TriSept, Swam Technologies, and Unseenlabs.
“Welcome back to Earth Electron!” Peter Beck, Rocket Lab CEO, said in a tweet, with an image showing the thruster floating in the ocean alongside one of the company’s ships.
Beck’s company, like Elon Musk’s SpaceX, wants to return toCon the boosters so it can be launched more frequently, while reducing the material cost of each mission. But Rocket Lab’s approach to retrieving its thrusters is notably different from SpaceX’s, which uses thruster motors to slow it down during reentry and add wide legs for landing on large concrete pads.
Instead, Rocket Lab is testing a technology that Beck calls an “aerodynamic thermal decelerator,” essentially using the atmosphere to slow the rocket. After reaching space, Rocket Lab’s on-board computer guides the thruster through re-entry. A parachute is then deployed from the top of the thruster to slow it down and eventually allow the company to lift it out of the sky with a helicopter.
“This is the first time that we’re really going to do anything but catch him with a helicopter,” Beck told reporters before launch.
The recovery occurred in the ocean about 400 kilometers off the coast of New Zealand. Rocket Lab, which also has operations and facilities in the United States, is launched from a private complex on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. Rocket Lab will now transport the propellant back to the company’s production facility, where its engineers will inspect the rocket and collect data to further the recovery program.
Beck acknowledged before launch that, even with some testing done previously, “it’s too early” for Rocket Lab to “understand what condition we’re going to put it back in.”
“The strongest driver [of the recovery program] It’s not having to rebuild rockets, so being able to increase the production rate is really the key factor, “said Beck.” The ultimate goal here is to get it back in such a condition that we can put it back on the platform, back up, charge the batteries, and voila. And if we can achieve that milestone, the economy will certainly change quite significantly. “
The benefits and economics of reusing rockets remain a contentious topic in the space industry. SpaceX’s Musk recently criticized competitor United Launch Alliance as “a complete waste of taxpayer money” because its rockets are not reusable. SpaceX has consistently pushed the limits of rocket reuse, especially when landing the booster, which is the largest and most expensive part.
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