Rocket lab announce reusable first stage to be caught by helicopter
Proving once again that size and location are no barriers to innovation.
Have a look at this video from about 14.36 onwards - sequence shows the first stage deploying a parafoil, presumably steerable, and then being plucked from the sky by a helicopter - similar to the way the film cannisters from the first spy satellites used to be grabbed by an aircraft. |
Got from 14:36 to 16:10 and some bloke still waffling.
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Try from 9:40 through to about 11:20. It'll be interesting to see if they can pull it off, nothing like putting a helicopter in the path of a re-entering booster! All the best to them.
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Kind of innovation backwards and compared to Space-X pinpoint landings, Rube Goldberg. (have not watched video)
I know why I like their landings so much - They're the cover of most sci-fi magazines from youth. Spacecraft arrives, points upright and lands gently on fins. |
Total empty weight of the first stage is under a ton, so the recovery method is feasible, but not scalable......
Rocket Lab Electron Data Sheet |
"Stupid Easy!".......now what could possibly go wrong with a concept like this?
NASA re-used solid rocket boosters for the Space Shuttle as I recall....and landed them in the sea by parachute.....then used a recovery vessel to retrieve them. Re-use of whole SRB's was rare...but thousands of parts we're inspected, re-worked....and flown again on later missions. |
Stupid Easy!".......now what could possibly go wrong with a concept like this? https://www.cia.gov/library/center-f...ober-1984.html |
Two different kettles of fish here.
Interesting concept but the devil is in the details. Starts with the Intercept Cone....height, speed, distance from the Helicopter's actual location....and despite the improvement in "accuracy" .... a miss will result in a "Miss" and the booster winding up in the water. Then what? We chased Torpedoes in the Rassay Sound using helicopters but in my time there we never retrieved one......rocket boosters under canopy will. be a bit more difficult. |
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That said - the video showed a parafoil rather than a round parachute, and I think that's intentional.
They're steerable - which would suggest the booster could be maneuvered to aid capture. |
thats likely alot of math to figure out where to place your recovery equipment...im not that good at math.
good luck to them |
PDG Helicopters
I think you will find PDG Helicopters did this a couple of years ago. Take a look at their You Tube Channel.
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The proof is in the pudding as they say. Yes...it "can" be done But....saying it and doing it are two very different things.....and saying it is "Stupid Easy" is a bit braggadocios of the fellow I am thinking. But then I remember trying to hit a streamer made by a falling Bog Roll and having difficulty doing that in an aerobatic airplane! |
Seems like they've had a successful proof of concept
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Great work by the pilot.
A little slow though getting the hook in place but looked steady enough. |
A lot simpler when they are right on the spot and see it released.
It will be a bit different when they are trying to predict a space re-entry and get the chopper within a bull's roar of it. |
Why not add a flotation device and a 406 beacon, let it parachute into the water and then recover it?
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Originally Posted by [email protected]
(Post 10745633)
Why not add a flotation device and a 406 beacon, let it parachute into the water and then recover it?
skadi |
We have been further ahead already it seems.
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Looks like they made a giant, flying suppository.:)
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sure, saltwater can have some terrible effects, but lets be realistic here...a ship can be strategically placed at the intended LZ with a wash system to minimize the damaging effects
but the helicopter method is way cooler and probably gets more youtube hits with these promo vids so in the end they get more exposure and more cool factor. |
Isn't it usually dissimilar metals in saltwater that have the problems - ISTR that this can be alleviated by a sacrificial anode.
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It's not just a tin can. It's the rocket engine and all the associated electronics, connectors, valves, actuators, switches etc. I'm not surprised they want to keep that out of the briney.
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Originally Posted by krypton_john
(Post 10747100)
It's not just a tin can. It's the rocket engine and all the associated electronics, connectors, valves, actuators, switches etc. I'm not surprised they want to keep that out of the briney.
skadi |
lets for a second assume all those parts aren't properly sealed and protected to begin with, and then we can understand why they'd all be garbage from the take off, and re-entry, long before they splash down in some water.
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Originally Posted by GrayHorizonsHeli
(Post 10747710)
lets for a second assume all those parts aren't properly sealed and protected to begin with, and then we can understand why they'd all be garbage from the take off, and re-entry, long before they splash down in some water.
skadi |
Originally Posted by EMS R22
(Post 10745585)
Great work by the pilot.
A little slow though getting the hook in place but looked steady enough. |
Originally Posted by Skidbiter4eva
(Post 10749154)
You should probably do the next one so everyone knows how to get it down as quickly as possible.
Pump the brakes Cheif , just a little personal joke for the pilot. I know he reads this forum most days. But if I get hold of a rocket ill be sure to post a vid of me punching it off the long line. |
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