Rocket Lab pulled considered one of its boosters from the ocean after a launch on Monday (July 17), taking one other step toward rocket reuse.
The offshore motion was a part of a mission called “Baby Come Back,” by which an Electron rocket successfully launched seven satellites to orbit from Rocket Lab’s Latest Zealand site.
After doing its job within the upward direction, the Electron’s first stage got here back to Earth under parachutes, ultimately splashing down within the Pacific Ocean about 17 minutes after liftoff.
Related: Rocket Lab launches 1st Electron booster from US soil in twilight liftoff
A Rocket Lab recovery ship motored out to the splashdown zone in brief order, and crewmembers successfully pulled the booster from the ocean.
“A successful day of rocket fishing for the recovery team. One Electron booster safely on board after a fast trip to space,” Rocket Lab said via Twitter on Monday.
The recovery is a component of Rocket Lab’s ongoing work to make the primary stage of the 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron reusable. Over the approaching days and weeks, engineers will study the used booster, learning more about how its various components held up through the fiery return through Earth’s atmosphere.
The corporate has already done such work on several used boosters, including one recovered this past March. And the early returns are promising; Rocket Lab has said it plans to launch an Electron with a preflown Rutherford engine later this 12 months. (The Electron is powered by nine 3D-printed Rutherfords in its first stage and one in its upper stage.)
Rocket Lab’s recovery strategy for Electron is sort of different than that employed by SpaceX with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
Those larger launchers come back to Earth for powered vertical touchdowns, however the Electron is simply too small to have enough fuel left over for such maneuvers after launch. So Electron boosters must make a more passive return to their home planet.
Rocket Lab initially planned to pluck falling Electrons out of the sky with a helicopter, and even did so on one occasion. But the corporate eventually abandoned the chopper in favor of the simpler ocean splashdown approach.