This is not a NASA Website. You might learn something. It's YOUR space agency. Get involved. Take it back. Make it work—for YOU.
You gotta watch this @Rocketlab booster recovery proof of concept video. A freakin' paragliding first stage caught in mid air by a helicopter https://t.co/u9aD8RZ3IK
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) April 10, 2020
Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member... More by Keith Cowing
Comments are closed.
NASA Watch: Your support is needed, support independent journalism.
Thank you for whatever support you can provide. We recently launched this upgraded website which will allow us to expand our coverage. But the design and hosting come at cost, as does adding new services. We're also going looking to add new journalists as we expand.
We'll send a verification code to %EMAIL%.
Great work Rocket Lab!
Reminds me of this: https://thespacereview.com/…
Everything old is new again!
I assume on a real booster the engines would be up to prevent engine bell damage?
Very cool. Good for Rocket Lab. More innovation coming from others too I’m sure!
Cool. I wonder how the mass compares with GAMBIT, etc.
GAMBIT recovered capsules weighed about 90lbs. Dry weight of Rocket Lab’s first stage is just a few lbs short of a ton.
GAMBITs were recovered by fixed-wing aircraft (C119, as I recall) with special equipment installed. The helicopter recovery would offer a better opportunity to match the ‘chute’s velocity (think ‘minimize the yank’) and have the ability to base the whole operation on a ship.
In an actual event would the helicopter have the same level of location specificity from an incoming object?
I think so, baring a very off target reentry. Having an aircraft catch a reentered space capsules isn’t new. The first successful recovery was in 1960, as part of the Corona program. (The early spy satellites used film, which was then returned to Earth.)