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WASHINGTON – Rocket Lab USA Inc, a smaller launch company, shot a falling rocket from the air by helicopter on Monday before launching it into the ocean, appearing to be partially successful in testing the company’s new cost-saving approach rockets for multiple missions in space.
The demonstration, which included parachutes and a long cable hanging from a helicopter, aimed to mark a key milestone for the Long Beach, California-based company as it dares to reduce the cost of sending things into space, a billionaire industry trend. entrepreneur. Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
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After taking off to send 34 satellites into orbit at 10:50 a.m. (2250 GMT) in New Zealand, the four-story Electron accelerator stage of the Long Beach, California-based company fell back through the Earth’s atmosphere and deployed a series of parachutes to stop speed. mu.
At high altitude above the South Pacific, off the coast of New Zealand, a helicopter hanging a long vertical cable from below was piloted by two pilots over an accelerator that had stretched a grip line on the side as it parachuted. at approximately 22 miles (35 km) per hour.
The helicopter’s cable is attached to the amplifier’s capture line, as seen in the company’s live broadcast, to applause and applause from Rocket Lab engineers at the company’s mission management center in Long Beach.
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But engineers’ applause turned into moans of sound when helicopter pilots were forced to release the rocket from the cable and sink it into the Pacific Ocean after noticing “different load characteristics” from what had been tested in previous tests. capture, a Rocket Lab spokesman later confirmed.
A completely successful test would involve transporting the rocket accelerator back to land or barge without touching ocean water.
“It’s not a big deal,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck wrote on Twitter. “The rocket exploded safely and the ship is loading it now.”
It was not immediately clear whether Rocket Lab planned to reuse the booster.
(Report by Joey Roulette; Edited by Stephen Coates)
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