Rocket Lab will attempt its first booster recovery on its next mission

The American company Rocket Lab has revealed that it will try to recover the first stage of its electronic rocket. In its next mission, the launch of “Return to Sender” is expected to take off in mid-November. The missile lab will test the first phase of the electron under a parachute system for a controlled water landing before picking up a salvage ship.

The Rocket Lab’s 16th electronic launch “Return to Sender” will be launched from Launch Complex 1 on the Mohia Peninsula in New Zealand. The mission will deploy 30 electron payloads on a short-range satellite. In a recovery effort, the launch’s secondary target reaches a solar synchronous orbit of 500 km.

Rocket Lab said last summer that, like Space X, it had plans to relaunch rockets, which would significantly reduce the cost of launching the rocket. Unlike the SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets, the Rocket Lab, one of SpaceX’s drone ships that lands and lands vertically, is designed to allow the rocket footsteps of an electronic rocket to land on a parachute.

It should be noted that there is a big difference in size between the 17 m high Rocket Labs Electron rocket and the 70 m high Space X Falcon 9 rocket. The electron is designed to give small satellites a special run in orbit. The rocket will be able to lift 300 kilograms of payload in low orbit in approximately $ 7 million in take-offs.

The image above is from Rocket Labs intending to build an electronic rocket stadium somewhere in the ocean after Rocket Labs in New Zealand was launched from a rocket base.

“The first stage of recovering a small launch vehicle is the uncharted area. What we are trying to achieve with electrons is an incredibly difficult and complex challenge, but we are poised to further increase the launch cadence and provide more regular launch opportunities for small satellite operators.“Says Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab.”The ultimate goal is to restore the entire first phase, but the success of this mission is really getting more data, especially the parachute drag and deployment system. Regardless of the situation, the stage is returning; We will learn a lot from this test and use it to move on to the next attempt. “

If the rocket’s recovery program is successful, the electron will become the first small reusable orbital-class launch system in operation.