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Catch a rocket by helicopter: Rocket Lab showed a new feature (Video)
A lightweight Electron launcher, the first stage of which is planned to be used repeatedly, is structurally unable to independently vertically land on the ground as the Falcon 9 from SpaceX does, but the American company has implemented a system for catching stages in the air using helicopters.
In March 2020, another intercept system was tested off the coast of New Zealand, during which two helicopters were used - the first dropped a rocket stage, which was then parachuted and picked up in the air by a second helicopter.
Recall that the Rocket Lab launches Electron from its own spaceport in New Zealand. Their carrier can bring to a height of about 250 kilometers (low Earth orbit) up to 250 kilograms, and to a height of 500 km (solar-synchronous) - up to 150.
The Electron rocket is the only mass-produced carrier in the world with electric fuel and oxidizer turbopumps, as well as with a combustion engine printed on a 3D printer.
[video = "N3CWGDhkmbs"]
In March 2020, another intercept system was tested off the coast of New Zealand, during which two helicopters were used - the first dropped a rocket stage, which was then parachuted and picked up in the air by a second helicopter.
Recall that the Rocket Lab launches Electron from its own spaceport in New Zealand. Their carrier can bring to a height of about 250 kilometers (low Earth orbit) up to 250 kilograms, and to a height of 500 km (solar-synchronous) - up to 150.
The Electron rocket is the only mass-produced carrier in the world with electric fuel and oxidizer turbopumps, as well as with a combustion engine printed on a 3D printer.
[video = "N3CWGDhkmbs"]