Watch Rocket Lab Try To CATCH Electron w/ a Helicopter!!!

Catch Me If You Can will be Rocket Lab’s 32nd launch overall and its 2nd recovery attempt of this year. Their Electron rocket will be launching a single satellite for OHB Sweden and the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA) into a 585 km Sun-synchronous orbit. OHB Sweden developed a satellite bus on which the SNSA’s scientific payload is integrated. It will investigate atmospheric waves in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Need to know more information? Check out our Prelaunch Preview -

00:00 - Intro
03:15 - Prelaunch Preview
08:20 - Q&A
20:35 - Rocket Lab Stream Starts
40:50 - Liftoff!
45:30 - MECO / Stage Sep
52:05 - SECO / Helicopter Catch Attempt
1:01:15 - Q&A
1:34:25 - Payload Deploy and Catch Update
1:37:55 - Q&A

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[realdizzle]

I'm rooting for Rocket Lab to eventually pull this catch and recovery off. But, as somebody that knows a little bit about general-aviation, rotorcraft, sling-load operations, and parachuting - and understanding that this is an idea that combines all four of those distinctly different fields and mashes them together on a scale that has never been attempted before, this is INSANELY complicated and dangerous.

[bistromathics]

I was involved in some of the design of that sponson (that's what the "tiny little wing" there is called) on the S-92, as well as the load release system (probably what Rocket Lab used on their previous attempt). S-92 was one of my favorite projects when I was working in aerospace.

[ironmanhsall]

The footage you got of the twin boosters landing was the coolest thing I have ever seen.

[DouglasJMark]

Thanks Tim. Love these videos!!! Rocket Lab is doing great and the video stream was awesome. Better luck next time Rocket Lab.

[Wordsmiths]

Yaay, Rocket Lab! By all normal measures, this has been a 100% successful launch, and the live stream was done super well (RL's, not just EverydayAstronaut's). As Joe Lammers said, mid-air booster catch via helicopter, with the booster hanging from chutes, is "insanely" ambitious. Glad RL is even giving it a shot. It would be an amazing skillset to perfect, that's for sure...

[CAGE-CODE_LU]

Everything went super great! Just 86 the helicopter catch routine.. Now invent rapid spray foam membrane / plug apparatus; necessary to seal critical motor components from corrosion adding boyancy. It can be done prior to splashdown within weight limits... Best, CT

[JontyLevine]

My picks for the five most impactful rockets:
*Falcon 9* - it proved that reusable rockets were not only possible, but inevitable. It pulls off a successful launch and landing once a week, but still looks like magic. Practically every launch provider has needed some sort of reusability strategy to remain relevant because of this.
*Space Shuttle* - defined an entire era of American space flight, launched and repaired the Hubble Telescope, built the ISS, killed more astronauts than any other launch vehicle. When pop culture depicts realistic space travel, it's always a Space Shuttle.
*Soyuz* - defined _every_ era of Russian space flight. An Apollo-era launch vehicle that's still in use today and despite 50 years of progress is still the second best way of transporting humans into orbit. It unsurprisingly has the most launches of any rocket.
*V2* - a controversial pick for obvious reasons, but as the first ever rocket to reach space, its place in history should be obvious. If not for its engineers being captured by the Allies and the Russians, we may not even have a space programme.
*Saturn V* - still the most powerful rocket ever built. Its achievements - both in terms of its Giant Leap for Mankind and the size of the payload it can transport - has yet to be surpassed. It is the launch system that every other launch system has been compared to since then.

[alt]

If one is going for a novel recovery approach. It would be less difficult to float the booster back as a hot air balloon using the engine as a burner with surplus fuel. The balloon would be slightly heavier than the parachutes, but could brake the booster at a higher altitude.

[tomryner]

Great work Rocketlab and good luck MATS!

[Rorschach]

The S92 is the civilian version of the H-92 SuperHawk. Those wing shaped things are called sponsons. They do increase lift at speed. They are typically fuel tanks.

[disorganizedorg]

1:01:18 -- "I know we're not going to get [a] copyright strike; it's my music"
Don't be too sure on that.

[NebbieNZ]

15:20 300km is east off the coast of Christchurch half way down the south island.

[iamaduckquack]

I know they havent had many attempts at this but having a very short 10 minute window to find the booster, get too the booster, line everything up with the booster and then catch it is, in my opinion, extremely abitious bordering on impossible in the given time frame.

[brianhaygood]

OK, no surprise, but Tim, you put in a ton of work just for that intro and it is really cool. Haven't even made it to the actual show, yet.

[NZguy]

I live like 10 minutes away from rocket lab and I hear every time

[scorpio]

Wow! That landing footage! Looking forward to the next "reglar" video being shot with you in a cabin somewhere. "So...yeah" would be a cool shirt / hoodie.

[glennmcgurrin]

While routinely done, carrying load on a line under a helicopter is not easy and requires a great deal of care to avoid stability issues as I understand it, to bring it to something more people have probably seen my understanding is it is kind of similar to the issues with a truck with liquid in a half full tank, except obviously you can't put baffles on the sling line, the way it can swing when you turn can be similar to the issues a half full tanker truck without baffles can have.

[Kevin-hbyq]

Happy to see another successful Electron launch.

-whats with the jump cut at 45:38 ??

[vicroc]

>OG smallsat launcher
>Falcon 1

Apparently we completely forgot about the Scout. Or the Orbital Sciences Pegasus. They were launching small before it was cool.

[JurisKankalis]

They can't copy-right strike this music - because it's mine. For once, take that, Suzan! And no, not TAKE THAT the band, Suzan (you wish, Suzan!!) Huh, anyway - great stream, maybe next time, Rocket Lab, the crazy plan will work. Wonder how the grab hook works. Is it magnetic and latches on to the chute's rope? Couldn't be - if the first stage is abt. 1 ton. Do they remote-control the hook where it snap-closes once it has the rope? It sounds INSANELY difficult if they literally have to snatch one rope floating in 3 dimensions mid-air at 36km/h with another rope - which is floating in 3 dimensions mid-air at whatever speed the heli is travelling. Not only the telemetry is the limiting factor - but also the weather - if the visibility is poor, or if it takes time - or even worse - isn't possible to open the hook after a mistaken "snap close". This is harder than rocket science, obviously - it's catch me if you can science. Anyway. Greetings from Latvia, thanks for the video.