back to article Rocket Lab successfully catches falling rocket booster with a helicopter

Space launch contender Rocket Lab has successfully demonstrated its peculiar method of capturing spent rocket boosters so they can be re-used: catching them with a helicopter as they fall. The outfit planned to make the catch on April 29, but bad weather delayed the mission. The skies cleared today and the mission – dubbed “ …

  1. DS999 Silver badge

    Wish there was a video

    I've been wondering exactly how you catch something with a helicopter, given that something falling vertically would hit the blades. I guess its chute has it falling at an angle, and the copter is banking during the catch?

    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: Wish there was a video

      There's an onboard shot from the helicopter in Rocket Lab's live broadcast but I haven't seen an external shot, though there might be some external shots of their practice and testing for the procedure.

      1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

        Re: Wish there was a video

        The rocket falls effectively vertically at low speed, with a drogue chute above the main chute. The chopper flies faster than the rocket's horizontal speed and hooks between the two chutes from above.

      2. notyetanotherid

        Re: Wish there was a video

        There are videos of the practice runs, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7QIgf0f2mg

        1. RichardBarrell

          Re: Wish there was a video

          My favourite comment on that video was the person asking when this will be added to the Olympic games. :)

    2. Anonymous Coward Silver badge
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Wish there was a video

      Check their release-to-media media on dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kumqcl235k3sghq/AABjn84VRhkmj8C_7IVL69pka/Mission%20Photos%20and%20Video/Launch%2026_There%20And%20Back%20Again?dl=0&subfolder_nav_tracking=1

      It's clearly a promo video, but it shows the technique.

    3. cswilly2

      Re: Wish there was a video

      Video of the catch

      https://youtu.be/6nODVPGHQcc?t=2798

      1. jake Silver badge

        Re: Wish there was a video

        You can change that to t=3150 to avoid wasting too much time.

        Or, for a wrap up, try t=5707

      2. DS999 Silver badge

        Re: Wish there was a video

        Whoever aimed / chose that camera angle did a terrible job LOL

        But thanks for the video!

        1. jake Silver badge

          Re: Wish there was a video

          The camera is looking straight down. The installer didn't take into account little things like momentum and inertia in a rope hanging from a platform that is constantly changing speed and direction. Not certain how they could have, either.

          1. DS999 Silver badge

            Re: Wish there was a video

            Wide angle lens

  2. Filippo Silver badge
    Pint

    A beer for everyone, and two for the pilots.

  3. lglethal Silver badge
    Pint

    Look its not exactly rocket science is it? Oh wait...

    Beers for all involved!

    1. awavey

      It's not, its rocket engineering, the science is just the math bit, the engineering is how you practically do it

  4. jake Silver badge

    Catch and release, then.

    Takes all of the fun out of it if you can't bring it home & show the neighbors.

    1. Nik 2

      Re: Catch and release, then.

      The one that got away?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Catch and release, then.

        It was THIS big!

  5. Persona Silver badge

    Does it work economically

    It's great to see it being technically possible. Now it will be interesting is to see if it is worthwhile from an economic perspective. As Peter Beck has previously stated, getting one back to the factory (even if full of seawater) is the way to work this out.

    Helicopter at sea operations are notoriously expensive, then add to this the cost of inspection and refurbishment of what they got back. With an expensive to build rocket there will be a margin to make it cost effective, which is how SpaceX manages it. However with the Electron the ticket price is much lower so the recovery costs are vastly more significant.

    1. lglethal Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: Does it work economically

      Whilst I agree with you on the huge costs for the recovery, you might be underestimating the costs involved in building a rocket motor. They are hugely complex pices of kit, usually made from very expensive materials. Even being able to reuse only half of the rocket motor would probably make it profitable to retrieve the Rocket as they are planning. Even better if they can keep it out of the Sea next time...

      1. Persona Silver badge

        Re: Does it work economically

        you might be underestimating the costs involved in building a rocket motor

        Their Rutherford engine is a small low cost engine with 9 of them on the Electron booster plus a vacuum optimized one on the second stage. It's incredible simple (for a rocket engine) as it uniquely uses a battery powered electric pump instead of a complex pre-burner and turbopump. Because of its small size and simplicity it is mostly 3d printed. I don't know the cost of a set of nine but I suspect it's one of if not the most cost effective solutions launching.

        This article has a great picture of Peter Beck with a Rutherford engine https://spacenews.com/rocket-lab-unveils-battery-powered-3d-printed-rocket-engine/

        1. lglethal Silver badge
          Go

          Re: Does it work economically

          "I suspect it's one of if not the most cost effective solutions launching."

          Just because its cost effective doesnt mean its cheap. Cheaper than the competition perhaps, but your still looking at millions of dollars per unit.(I naturally do not have the figures, and have no relation to Rocket Lab, but Rocket motors and engines are always the most expensive part of the rocket and usually make up a very large proportion of the costs).

          A 30m Superyacht is cheaper than a 40m Superyacht, but its still not what you would consider a bargain... ;)

          1. Persona Silver badge

            Re: Does it work economically

            your still looking at millions of dollars per unit

            Per unit as in per engine. Nope they don't cost that. An Electron launch to orbit will reportedly set you back $4.9 million. As there are 10 engines flown they certainly won't cost millions per unit. The total cost of all 10 on the launch is likely to be less than one million.

            Tory Bruno's (who is a rocket engineer) big rule of thumb (subject to plus or minus) is that half the cost of a launch service is the rocket, half the cost of the rocket is the booster and 2/3 of the cost of the booster is the engines. This puts the nine first stage engines at a little over 100K each. Sounds about right.

            We are not talking about 30m Superyatchs here, more like 23 foot surf boats.

            1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
              Happy

              Re: Does it work economically

              "This puts the nine first stage engines at a little over 100K each. Sounds about right."

              And looking at the photo in the linked article by the poster above, they are *tiny*.

              According to the wikipedia of all knowledge:

              Diameter 25 cm (9.8 in)

              Dry weight 35 kg (77 lb)[3]

              Ok, nine of them, but seriously? Tiny!!

    2. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

      Re: Does it work economically

      The only way we will know for sure is if Rocket Lab keeps at it. Peter Beck publicly stated Rocket Lab would not re-use its boosters because the cost of recovery was too close to the cost of replacement. He later ate his hat. The problem was that it takes time to make rockets out of composite materials and even longer to purchase the required robots. Rocket Lab could not keep up with demand or buy equipment fast enough to boost their production rate.

      Re-using Electron has turned out 'easier' than expected: some extra thermal protection around the hot spots and a parachute. Falcon 9 needed 60% longer booster tanks and much more powerful engines to lift all that extra propellant.

      Some bits of Electron have flown again after being fished out of the sea but it looks like the helicopter trick is only a stop-gap. The plan for Neutron is to have the booster return to the launch site with the fairing attached - because boats and helicopters are expensive.

      1. Muscleguy

        Re: Does it work economically

        Erm you do know they 3D print their engines? No tooling other than some 3D printers. Want to change the specs? Download a new file to the printer.

    3. The Axe

      Re: Does it work economically

      If you thought helicopter operations are expensive, wait till you see the cost marine operations.

    4. Filippo Silver badge

      Re: Does it work economically

      > Helicopter at sea operations are notoriously expensive

      True, but so is carrying extra fuel for a controlled landing.

      Which of the two approaches prevails, eh, that's a question for the future. My money is on - different approaches will suite different tasks.

      1. jake Silver badge

        Re: Does it work economically

        My money is on a computer controlled glide back to the launch site, with a parachute for the final landing.

  6. spireite Silver badge

    I guess their general success with this is something of a ...boost.

  7. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "a supersonic ballet"

    Somehow I doubt that recovering a rocket booster with a helicopter is going to prove economically viable.

    There is no guarantee of recovery, and if the operation misses, the booster is gone and you have spent not insignificant amounts of money on a helicopter for nothing.

    Given that there is no way of ensuring success, what is basically needed is to know how many failures they can sustain before going under.

    1. awavey

      Re: "a supersonic ballet"

      It seems a risky way of perfecting booster return, like this launch encountered a hold of about 10mins, which presumably they add to the helicopters fuel budget, but if the launch window is over several hours,would you want your helicopter recovery service to be the determining point of failing to launch because its low on fuel stuck in the sea? And recycle of fuel is expensive plus adds to your overall launch reuse as theyll only be rated for so many fuelling cycles before you've got to replace it anyway.

      Plus as a company with shares trading on the markets, failures become share price affecting which is no doubt why they cut the feed even though we kind of knew the attempt had failed

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "a supersonic ballet"

        Presumably its parked on a boat until it needs to take off for the catch.

    2. jake Silver badge

      Re: "a supersonic ballet"

      Peter Beck's babble is pretty much all marketing fluff. Last time I checked, helicopters find it to be rather difficult to get even close to "supersonic". Nothing to lose sleep over.

      On the other hand, catching stuff falling from orbit has been fairly common since the late 1950s (see the CORONA program).

      1. swm

        Re: "a supersonic ballet"

        'Last time I checked, helicopters find it to be rather difficult to get even close to "supersonic".'

        Maybe straight down but level flight would require the leading blades to be supersonic while the trailing blades would be stalled.

    3. The Axe

      Re: "a supersonic ballet"

      People were saying that about SpaceX and their recovery of their boosters. That there was no guarantee of recovery, wasted money on trying, etc.

    4. Muscleguy

      Re: "a supersonic ballet"

      Their chopper costs (fuel. pilot) are paid in NZ$. The launch fees are paid in US$. NZ has lots of good chopper pilots, like ex All Black Captain Fantastic Richie McCaw.

  8. blue-eyes

    Falling rocket

    Catch a falling rocket, Put it in your pocket, Save it for a rainy day.

  9. TheRealRoland
    Happy

    Bucket Catchers!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdsn4snbzjo

    They have this setup in the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Pretty neat!

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