[Liftoff 58:23] Electron Launch LIVE | Rocket Lab There and Back Mission | Helicopter Recovery

Описание

Rocket Lab will be attempting to Launch Electron and catch it for the first time in mid air using helicopter.
Electron will launch 34 payloads to orbit.

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Launching from Pad A at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula, the “There And Back Again” mission will be Rocket Lab’s 26th Electron launch.

The “There And Back Again” mission will see Electron deploy 34 satellites to a sun synchronous orbit for a variety of customers including Alba Orbital, Astrix Astronautics, Aurora Propulsion Technologies, E-Space, Spaceflight Inc., and Unseenlabs, and bring the total number of satellites launched by Electron to 146.

“There And Back Again” is also a recovery mission where, for the first time, Rocket Lab will attempt a mid-air capture of Electron’s first stage as it returns from space using parachutes and a helicopter.

Like previous recovery missions, Electron’s first stage will undertake a series of complex maneuvers designed to enable it to survive the extreme heat and forces of atmospheric re-entry. Electron will be equipped with a heat shield to help protect the stage’s nine Rutherford engines and a parachute to slow Electron down in order for Rocket Lab’s customized Sikorsky S-92 helicopter to catch the stage as it returns.

Unlike previous recovery missions, “There And Back Again” is attempting to avoid an ocean splashdown as the helicopter will return to the stage back to land after catch. Upon success of this recovery, Electron will be one step closer to being the first reusable orbital small sat launcher.

for the There and Back Again mission, a customized Sikorsky S-92 helicopter will be used. This large twin engine helicopter is usually used for search and rescue operations, as well as for offshore gas and oil transportation

An hour prior to liftoff, Sikorsky S-92 will move in the capture zone (~ 288 km off New Zealand’s coast) to await launch. This mission’s recovery process will go as follows. First, the reaction control system will reorient the booster 180° for re-entry. This orientation, as well as the heat shield, will help the vehicle withstand temperatures up to 2400 °C as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speeds (8,300 km per hour, ~8 times the speed of sound). After decelerating to supersonic speeds ( Mach 2), Electron will deploy a drogue parachute at 13 km altitude that will stabilize the stage and continue slowing it down. Then, the main parachute will come into play at an altitude of around 6 km to increase drag even further, to 36 km per hour.

After that, a helicopter stationed in the recovery zone will be deployed and will attempt to rendezvous with the returning booster and catch its parachute line via a hook. Then, the helicopter will unload the booster onto the recovery vessel, which will mark the first attempt of an at-sea offload of the company. The recovered stage will then be returned to land for thorough inspection.

Electron consists of two stages with an optional kick stage or rocket Lab’s Photon satellite bus. Electron is 18 m (59 ft) tall, 1.2 m (3.9 ft) in diameter, and can loft up to 300 kg (~660 lbs) into LEO. It is the first rocket ever to be fully manufactured out of advanced and lightweight carbon composites.

Electron’s first stage will undertake a series of complex maneuvers designed to enable it to survive the extreme heat and forces of atmospheric re-entry during its descent to the ocean. For this recovery attempt Electron will be equipped with a heat shield to help protect the stage’s nine Rutherford engines and a parachute to slow Electron down before its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. There, Rocket Lab’s recovery team will be stationed with a new retrieval
method to recover Electron from the water: the Ocean Recovery Capture Apparatus, or ORCA, a recovery optimized strongback for Electron. Running Out Of Toes is the second of three planned ocean splashdown recovery missions before moving into the final phase of the recovery program - mid-air recovery. Using this approach, Electron stages will be captured mid-air by a helicopter

#Electron #RocketLab #Rocket