Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “The Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, has successfully launched its 26th Electron mission, deploying 34 satellites in orbit. Rocket Lab has already deployed a total of 146 satellites in orbit with the Electron launch vehicle.
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View from an Electron Booster recovery helicopter that returns to Earth under a parachute after launch (Photo: Business Wire)
Quote “Back and forth” The mission also saw the Rocket Lab complete the first airborne capture of Electron’s accelerator by helicopter. After launching into space, the first stage of Electron & CloseCurlyQuote returned to Earth under a parachute. At 6,500 feet, Rocket Lab ‘s Sikorsky S-92 helicopter encountered the returning scene and used a long-line hook to catch the parachute line. Aerial capture is a cornerstone in Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s quest to make the Electron a reusable rocket to increase launch frequency and reduce the cost of launching small satellites. After capture, the helicopter pilot detects different load characteristics from previous testing attempts and unloads the scene for a successful descent. The scene is loaded on the Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote recovery ship for transport back to the Company & CloseCurlyQuote production complex for re-flight analysis and evaluation as planned.
The air capture comes after successful recovery operations from Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s 16th, 20th and 22nd missions, in which the first phase of Electron & CloseCurlyQuote carried out controlled ocean spraying before being returned to the Rocket Lab & CloseClose; production complex. Like these missions, the reaction control system reorients the first stage to an ideal re-entry angle during the Back and forth mission, allowing the stage to survive the incredible heat and pressure of its descent back to Earth. A stopping parachute was deployed to increase drag and stabilize the first stage of its descent, before a large main parachute was deployed in the final kilometers of descent. “Back and forth again” was the first time an attempt to capture a helicopter was introduced in recovery operations, and today’s mission will “inform future helicopter shootings.”
“Returning a rocket from space and catching it by helicopter is like supersonic ballet,” said Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab. “A huge number of factors need to be coordinated and many systems need to work together flawlessly, so I am incredibly proud of the stellar efforts of our recovery team and all of our engineers who made this mission and our first catch a success. From here, we’ll evaluate the stage and determine what changes we’d like to make to the system and procedures for the next helicopter capture and possible re-flight. ”
The quote “Back and forth” mission starts from site A in the launch complex 1 of Rocket Lab ‘on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand at 10:49 a.m. NZST, May 3, 2022, deployment of satellites for Alba Orbital, Astrix Astrix, Astrix , Astrofnora, Astroflona and Unseenlabs. The mission brings the total number of satellites launched by the Rocket Lab to 146. Among the deployed payloads were satellites designed to monitor light pollution, demonstrate space debris removal technologies, improve power limits in small satellites, and validate sustainable technologies. satellite systems that can avoid collisions with untraceable space objects allow the Internet from space and are based on a constellation of marine surveillance.
The next mission of Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote is scheduled for May 2022, and more details will be published in the coming days.
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+ About Rocket Lab
Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with proven track record in mission success. We provide reliable launch services, satellite production, spacecraft components and orbit control solutions that make it faster, easier and more accessible to access to space. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the small electron orbiter Electron and the Photon satellite platform and develops the Neutron 8-ton payload. Since its first orbit in January 2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second most frequently launched rocket in the United States each year, delivering 146 satellites into orbit for private and public sector organizations, allowing operations in the field. of national security, research, space debris mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring and communications. Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s Photon platform has been chosen to support NASA’s missions to the moon and Mars, as well as the first private trade mission to Venus. Rocket Lab has three launch sites on two launch sites, including two launch sites on a private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a second launch site in Virginia, USA, which is expected to be operational in 2022. To learn more, visit www. rocketlabusa.com.
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