Rocket Lab uses helicopter to catch falling rocket booster

SMALL launch firm Rocket Lab USA Inc this week captured a falling rocket stage out of the air with a helicopter before dropping it in the ocean, appearing to achieve a partially successful test of the company’s novel cost-savings approach to recovering used rockets for multiple missions to space.

The demonstration, involving parachutes and a long cable hanging from a helicopter, sought to check off a key milestone for the California-based company as it ventures to slash the cost of sending things into space, an industry trend pioneered by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

After lifting off to send 34 satellites toward orbit in New Zealand, the company’s four-storey-tall Electron booster stage fell back through Earth’s atmosphere and deployed a series of parachutes to brake its speed.

At high altitudes above the South Pacific, just off the New Zealand coast, a helicopter hanging a long, vertical cable from its underside was steered by two pilots over the booster.

The helicopter cable latched onto the booster’s capture line, but the cheers from engineers turned to groans as the helicopter pilots were forced to release the rocket from the cable and dunk it into the Pacific Ocean after noticing “different load characteristics” than what had been experienced during previous capture tests, a Rocket Lab spokesperson later confirmed.

“No big deal,” Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck said.