This company wants to recover its rocket launchers with helicopters

Firing a rocket (illustration).

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Rocket Lab, a private space company, will initiate a test flight in mid-November to try to recover its launchers for reuse later.

A first for this SpaceX competitor, which has already brought its launchers back to Earth for years, reports

relaying information from 

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The flight, which will see a six-stage Electron rocket launch, is expected to take place around November 16, depending on weather conditions.

The test was originally scheduled for the company's 17th flight but has been brought forward.

Our first recovery mission is coming sooner than you might think.

#ReturnToSender pic.twitter.com/JAtUsKYUtR

- Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) November 5, 2020

A device different from that of SpaceX

The end result is millions of dollars in savings.

Rather than getting lost at sea, launchers, which represent 80% of the total cost of a space mission, can now be salvaged.

To do this, Rocket Lab opted for a different technique from that of SpaceX.

The launchers of Elon Musk's company return to Earth on their own thanks to their own motors, which provide a descent at a controlled speed.

But given the relatively small size of its launchers, Rocket Lab cannot do the same.

It is therefore helicopters that will recover the launchers in full fall.

Test the descent first

Small thrusters will help orient the launchers to get them into the atmosphere with minimal damage.

A series of parachutes will then open to slow the fall of the launchers to a speed allowing their recovery by helicopters.

In April, Rocket Lab conducted a test in which a rocket stage was successfully recovered using a helicopter.

But for the flight in mid-November, the space company will be content to assess the condition of the launcher during its landing in order to fine-tune the whole process, specifies

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