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An Electron rocket prepares to be launched.
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 “milestone” in his rocket reuse work.
The company recovered the thruster from its Electron rocket after it was splashed in the Pacific Ocean. The recovery came after Rocket Lab’s 16th launch to date, which has carried 30 satellites into orbit for a variety of customers including TriSept, Swam Technologies and Unseenlabs.
“Welcome to Earth Electron!” Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, said in a tweet with a picture showing the booster floating in the ocean next to one of the ships of the company.
Beck’s company, much like Elon Musk’s SpaceX, wants to revson boosters so he can cast more often – while simultaneously lowering the material cost of each mission. But Rocket Lab’s approach to retrieving its boosters is noticeably different from SpaceX, which uses the boosters’ motors to slow it down on reentry and add wide legs to land on large concrete slabs.
Rocket Lab, instead, is testing a technology 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 booster through re-entry. Then, a parachute deploys from the top of the thruster to slow it down and eventually allow the company to tear it out of the sky with a helicopter.
“This is the first time that we’re going to do everything but catch it under a helicopter,” Beck told reporters before the launch.
The recovery occurred in the ocean about 400 kilometers off New Zealand. Rocket Lab, which also has operations and facilities in the United States, is launching from a private complex on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand. Rocket Lab now carry the propellant to the production facilities of the company, where engineers will inspect the rocket and collect data to continue the recovery program.
Beck acknowledged prior to launch that, even with some testing done before, “it’s far too early” for Rocket Lab to “figure out what condition we’re going to put it back in.”
“The strongest pilot [of the recovery program] doesn’t have to rebuild rockets, so being able to increase the production rate is really the main driver, ”Beck said. The ultimate goal here is to put it in such a state that we can put it on the pad, the back gazer, recharge the batteries and go. And if we can reach this milestone, then the economic situation will certainly change quite significantly. “
The economic advantages and benefits of rocket reuse remain a controversial issue in the space industry. SpaceX’s Musk recently criticized its competitor United Launch Alliance as “a total waste of taxpayer dollars” because its rockets are not reusable. SpaceX has consistently pushed the boundaries of reuse of rockets, including by boosting the land – which is the most important and most expensive.
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