Watch a Helicopter Catch a Rocket Booster Tumbling From Space
When it comes to the world of space exploration, cash is king. The average cost of NASA’s now-retired Space Shuttle program was more than $1 billion. Even today, the price tag of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch is a whopping $67 million. So while costs have lowered, it still presents a ludicrously expensive hurdle for the new, burgeoning space age.
That’s why aerospace companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin have invested so much in reusable rocket boosters. The idea is that if you can get the booster back intact—instead of, say, allowing it to crash into the moon or become orbital trash—you can cut down on launch costs by a huge margin by reusing it. Most research into this tech typically involves rockets that can land upright by themselves a la the Falcon 9. However, one aerospace startup has come up with a more creative way to accomplish that goal: snatching falling boosters out of the air with a helicopter.
Rocket Lab, a New Zealand company vying to cheaply put satellites into space, successfully launched one of its rockets into orbit where it deployed 34 satellites on Monday. Once finished, its first-stage booster—which separated from the satellite-deploying, second-stage booster—careened back down to Earth at roughly 5,150 mph before deploying its parachutes to slow its descent. That’s when a Rocket Lab helicopter grabbed it out of the air with a hook.
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