Posted on 05/03/2022 11:54:19 AM PDT by Red Badger
VIDEO AT LINK................
Rocket Lab has successfully grabbed a rocket coming down from space with a helicopter. The impressive feat is a new way to make sure that rockets don’t end up in the ocean, on the ground, or simply burning up in the atmosphere.
The launch was delayed by a few days and the rocket eventually took off from New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula at 18:49 ET on May 2. To emphasize the company’s connection to the Southern Hemisphere country, the mission was named “There and Back Again” in homage to The Hobbit. The world imagined by Tolkien has now become synonymous with New Zealand thanks to Peter Jackson’s movies.
The rocket flew to orbit and delivered 34 satellites, before a reaction control system placed it at the ideal angle to come back down without burning. The booster rocket released a drogue parachute to stabilize the descent before a larger parachute was released to slow the rocket down.
Rocket Lab’s Sikorsky S-92 helicopter then met the rocket at about 2 kilometers (6,500 feet) of altitude and a hook grabbed the line of the parachute. Once there, the pilot saw load characteristics that were different from the test and moved the rocket so that a successful splashdown could be performed. The booster is on its way to the company production complex for testing, hoping that it will be ready to launch as expected.
“Bringing a rocket back from space and catching it with a helicopter is something of a supersonic ballet,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck in a statement. “A tremendous number of factors have to align and many systems have 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 assess the stage and determine what changes we might want to make to the system and procedures for the next helicopter catch and eventual re-flight.”
Rocket Lab has another launch planned later this month, but there is currently no information on whether another helicopter capture will be performed then.
Ping!.........................
Catching a booster under a big parachute with a helicopter? What could go wrong?
It was captured from above. The parachute has a small drogue chute that is attached to the main chute with a wire. The helicopter grabbed the drogue chute cable.
I’d be surprised if all these companies don’t cooperate, at least from time to time.
BTW, they should try landing it on a bouncy castle next.
Was this what they intended to happen?
Rocket Lab, comin’ back from space alone...
Well, it’s not exactly...
Oh, wait...
🤔
Ok, that makes more sense. But it shows a basic distrust of Mother Erf to catch it at ground level. It could cause a public rejection of green energy doctrine.
No. They intended for the helicopter to fly the booster to shore.
Although the helicopter was meant to carry the rocket booster to shore, its pilots decided to drop it into the ocean, which they did upon noticing “different load characteristics” than those experienced during previous test flights, according to a Rocket Lab release. The pilots “did release it after hook up as they were not happy with the way [the helicopter] was flying,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck wrote on Twitter. “But no big deal, the rocket splashed down safely and the ship is loading it now,” he added.
Mother Erf showed up to save the day.
How much more desirable to just have the rocket return to launch base and land itself unharmed, than the whole “ballet” and splashdown, etc. Sounds like something the Germans would do. I bet Elon had a good laugh if he read this story.
Not that big a deal.
USAF was catching surveillance satellites in midair, in the 1960s. Snagged RVs descending from orbit, dangling from parachutes, with C-119 and C-130 aircraft. Possibly C-123 aircraft too.
Incidentally, it’s not unusual for helicopters to drop slung loads. The situation can get out of hand very quickly, if the load starts to swing.
At a small fraction of the cost of Musk’s Rube Golberg self-landing rocket.
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