A Guide To: Electron Ocean Recovery

Electron is already the world's most frequently launched small rocket annually. Now we're making it the world's first reusable orbital small rocket too.
As a small rocket, Electron doesn't have the mass margins of larger reusable rockets, so propulsive landing is off the cards. Instead, we equip Electron's first stage with a parachute to slow its descent from space back to Earth, where it splashes down in the ocean for collection by marine vessel and transport back to our production complex for refurbishment, ready for the next flight.

[@kickassnetwork]

For those wondering about getting wet... Rocket Lab has already demostrated that water's not an issue. They've already relaunch an engine that came back in a wet splashdown proving it's fine. And they have on Land run through at least 5 full test burns on another without performance loss. The body itself is a carbon fiber composite so that's probably fine.

[@David-yo5ws]

Well Rocket Lab has tested a returned Rutherford engine successfully. So we look forward to the fully re-useable 1st stage rockets to come. How are they going to name their Boosters, I wonder 🤔.

[@seank8689]

I love the way the rig reacted when braking - attention to detail even in the animations!

[@johnwolf7073]

rocket lab is my favorite space company ! keep it up!

[@JenniferA886]

Nice, what’s your second favourite space company?

[@ion8264]

cnsa , isro@@JenniferA886

[@chuck7299]

Does this mean you're giving up on the helicopter recovery midair?

[@s.cottrill]

They gave up on that a few months ago for safety reasons.

[@SALTrobot]

@@s.cottrill they also decided it was easier to do ocean recovery like this instead

[@ishaanpatel2905]

Sadly they decided this a while ago 😔

[@tglascoe1]

I’d say so. Similar to SX giving up on catching fairings with the giant net.

[@steveschritz1823]

Yup. Turns out helicopter recovery is a much bigger pain than it was worth. For one thing, the parachute reinflated when they tried to fly the booster to the ship.

[@dissaid]

Awesome...looking forward to you guys getting back up and running ..😎😎😎

[@clevergirl4457]

can't wait to see the return to flight of my favourite smallsat launcher!

[@romanvonkolln4330]

very well made video! The wateranimation behind the boat is great! great progress so far!

[@bureauofboredengineers]

RKLB: has a launch failure Also RKLB: *Posts baller video about re-use*

[@TundeEszlari]

I love your videos.

[@duckvs.chipanddale585]

This is pretty neat.

[@safetyinstructor]

Love you for using metric. thanks!

[@snake88ification]

Every country in the world uses metric except USA

[@David-yo5ws]

@@snake88ification Some countries use 'double standards'. 😉

[@LaughingOrange]

@@David-yo5ws And lumber is almost universally imperial. It's the only place I would actually measure using inches.

[@David-yo5ws]

@@LaughingOrange Here in NZ, Plumbing also uses inches. And tubing. It's very confusing.

[@StrykerFox]

It’s very cool. 👍👍👍👍

[@SALTrobot]

Rocket Lab sweep

[@zanshin720]

Rocket Lab = Efficiency

[@ConcealedCourier]

130 shares.. Go Rocketlab!🚀

[@NZC_Meow]

It's sooo coolll But I'll miss tue helicopter recoveries

[@VR-power]

This parachute aided water landing/recovery is the type of thing I would expect they would be doing in the 70s if nasa kept really pushing boundaries like in the 60s. I really don’t think it’s anything too impressive compared to what’s been out there for decades. 🤷‍♂️

[@corrinastanley125]

Good luck Rocket Lab.

[@filopips]

Thats what i tought 20 years ago: waterproof rocket!! 🎉🎉🎉 tanks for make my idea come trough!!

[@wayne-oo]

Sounds like more of a sales pitch for new investors !

[@zackcaton7181]

its happening

[@pseudotasuki]

It's something they're actually doing. An engine from a recovered rocket has even been flown a second time.

[@Starman20290]

I'm still really suprised about recovering from the water. Won't the salt water cause some corrosion and get into unsealed areas of the booster?

[@pseudotasuki]

Preventing that is the challenge. Rinsing out the combustion chambers after it gets pulled from the water is probably enough to prevent corrosion in the engines.

[@Chris.Davies]

999th upvote. :) No Kiwi accent on this video. It's a Canananadian one. :( I vividly recall Peter Beck railing against salt-water assets, saying how stupidly expensive they are, and how he wouldn't use them. Time to eat another hat, Peter?

[@pseudotasuki]

This would be the same hat.

[@jesserocha0]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@LG-ct8tw]

How is the booster protected against the heat of reentry?

[@JenniferA886]

Good question… I’d love to know this too

[@Dustin_ds3000]

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket has a thin thermal protection layer that helps shield the first stage from the heat of re-entry. The layer is made of graphite and aerogel graphite composite. It's a shiny, lightweight film that gives the rocket a new look.

[@JenniferA886]

@@Dustin_ds3000 thank you, this explains it 👍👍👍

[@LaughingOrange]

@@Dustin_ds3000 CEO Peter Beck said in an interview with Everyday Astronaut that the engines take most of the heat, and that the plasma forms a shield protecting the rest of the rocket. This was before they actually soft-landed their first rocket, so it's entirely possible what you said is a tweak on this strategy.

[@mikewasowski1411]

Interesting. If you aren’t using the engines to slow down the rentry speed why doesn’t it burn up? Also why can you put it in the water and SpaceX can’t? It seems to water damage their equipment but not yours? Very interesting since you are reentering doing all the things SpaceX avoid, so very cool if you pull it off. God speed 😎

[@heartofdawn2341]

Small vehicles have much tighter propellant margins, so it just doesn't have the fuel/mass to spare. It's also why it doesn't have landing legs to make a barge landing. This means that splashdown is the only real option SpaceX Falcon 9 is a much bigger vehicle, so it can spare the mass to have what it takes to not need to get wet. Neutron is RLs medium lift vehicle currently in development, and as a bigger rocket will take a similar approach to Falcon 9

[@mikewasowski1411]

@@heartofdawn2341 I agree, however I also thought the F9 reentry burn was a necessity to avoid hypersonic heating damage as that burn slows it from 8000 to ~5300 km/h for the lower atmosphere entry. I agree the rest of the fuel capacity is nice because of its lift class and it can. It’s just the reentry deceleration I was querying. How can Electron avoid it or why can’t F9 avoid it. If they could surely they would as it would burn a few tonnes of fuel.

[@kickassnetwork]

@@mikewasowski1411 I believe it's the drog parachute and main parachute. F9 is MUCH larger than Electron, so most likely it's just out masses what's reasonable for a parachute. For reference, The Electron is 12.5 Tons in Mass and F9 is 549 Tons.

[@pseudotasuki]

Square-cube law. Density vs. drag increases with scale. Electron slows faster during reentry, allowing it to sidestep an entry burn. Similarly, it's light enough for parachutes to be a realistic option. What's interesting is that Electron is recovered in the same manner SpaceX had been planning for Falcon 1.

[@dennisthegreatest]

Won’t the salt from the ocean degrade the rocket ?

[@LaughingOrange]

A little bit, and that could be what ultimately ends the usable life of the rocket, but it should be good for a few reuses.

[@donjones4719]

Is the rocket descending at 40 kph the entire time it's under the main chute? That's pretty fast. If I dropped a car nose first into the ocean at 40 kph it would be totaled.

[@Papershields001]

I wonder if there is a way to cover the engines before they reach the surface of the water?

[@Papershields001]

I wonder if something could be shot out and react with seawater just as the rocket is about to hit the sea and create an anti-corrosive film for the engines to fall through. Kinda like the lunar landing pad solutions that people have been talking about.

[@Papershields001]

Like a dip cone.

[@romanvonkolln4330]

if they spray off the seawater minutes after landing, it should be fine. But in the end seawater is nasty for every peace of hardware. they'll find out.

[@wavey61]

@@Papershields001 Sounds like that's a lot of extra weight to be propelled into space and back down.

[@pseudotasuki]

​@@romanvonkolln4330They've already recovered maybe a dozen rockets this way. There probably isn't much left to find out.

[@sydneysyd6647]

👀

[@FutureAIDev2015]

What's the background music?

[@charlesoflondon1066]

How many times can carbon composites be reused after reentry heating and stresses?

[@David-yo5ws]

Well SpaceX have got up to 18 using aluminium frame and skin. So I think Carbon Fibre could do that and more, as it has a very high flexing ability. We will just have to wait, to see the results in the future flights. Let's hope they work out the stage 2 'anomaly' for the failed second stage engine start. I would like to see their rocket again, from my front lawn, soon.

[@Nightscape_]

Déjà vu. I swear I already saw this video.

[@FicarAmriza]

2023 electro

[@dmitrynova]

thank god the helicopter idea was abandoned, never understood it from the start, why not just parachute the stage down, and there we are, parachuting it down directly into water..

[@DorkJelly]

Because salt water isn't just water... I would definitely be cautious as a customer if rocket lab tried to sell me a reused salt-water recovered booster. They already dealing with a not-so-great fail rate in a short timespan...Now they will add even more potential issues on top of it. I doubt they will even be able to get more than 2 flights out of a booster if even that. It most likely will be backtracked into just using reused refurbished parts instead of reusing full 1st stage boosters. But hey whatever to get investors excited amiright?

[@simongeard4824]

@@DorkJelly They've already re-flown at least one used engine that was fished out of the Pacific.

[@LaughingOrange]

@@DorkJelly They're not landing rockets to reduce costs, but mainly to increase capacity. If the booster can be used a total of 3 times, that is 3 times the capacity, assuming no bottlenecks with the second stage.

[@KhaLid-w8z5h]

Khalid35 🤖👽👽📜👽📜👽

[@romanjaimez101]

I only know that the arc20 will make me a millionaire, we are facing a sleeping giant #electron the resurgence of the beast

[@Platinumwendy]

I think peter should eat another hat.?. He said that boats were too expensive… I love rocket lab

[@LaughingOrange]

I don't think he promised that with boats. Also that was talking about landing on a barge, like SpaceX, not fishing a rocket out of the sea.

[@spacefreeman]

Nice schema but what about salt water in engines? Catch with helicopter in mid-air looked more promising but more risky.

[@declan9876]

nnnnice

[@EarthCreature.]

More videos please. Educate us all

[@Jawst]

Do you also plan to make a subterranean moon base like the Chinese😊

[@David-yo5ws]

Like the Earth Kiwi, the Luna Kiwi will live in underground burrows. 😉

[@dyu89]

This is incredible, why didn't anyone think of this sooner??? It would be so much better if only someone could figure out how to land a booster too!!! /s

[@mateogomez8413]

Because most make larger and heavier rockets (many tons above), it would not be feasible.

[@ASchnacky]

Dumb name

[@iamaduckquack]

Welcome to the 21st century of rocket re-usability. Better late than never.

[@snake88ification]

Late? Being second is late?😅

[@iamaduckquack]

If you're not winning, you're losing. Good to see more re-usabiliy though. Be intersting to see how the salt water issue goes over time in regards to how many times they can get away with it. @@snake88ification

[@BenGodot]

@@snake88ification What other company is doing rocket re-usability close to what RL is doing? And yes, second is late.

[@moekitsune]

​@@BenGodot Second is rather early actually.

[@BenGodot]

@@moekitsune I responded to the wrong comment, it's early.

[@ekspatriat]

using clever 'wordology' to avoid Spacex pissing all over you.

[@LaughingOrange]

For a dedicated mission, SpaceX is more expensive, and will continue to be at least until Starship is operational.

[@moekitsune]

​@@LaughingOrangeeven when Starship is operational it's gonna take a while until launch costs are low enough, and by then Neutron will be up and ready

[@Clifton100]

Oh, so Rocket Lab plans to reuse an entire booster rather than simply pulling components off of a splashdown booster? Interesting.

[@Benoit-Pierre]

Its years they are trying to recover ...

[@pseudotasuki]

Yeah, the engine was an incremental test.

[@Spegix1]

When showig splashdown, does it mean you ditched the helicopter "dry" capture?

[@iamaduckquack]

Did the video show or mention a helicopter?

[@gimmeshelter8262]

yES

[@Benoit-Pierre]

​@@iamaduckquackspacex said that salt water kills a rocket on single touch just even 10s. The dry method by helicopter looked promising, especially they asked to The company that does it since over 40y ...

[@zackcaton7181]

they ditched it

[@simongeard4824]

@@Benoit-Pierre SpaceX also spent a lot of money trying to catch fairings in a net, only to find that water damage wasn't too bad if they were retrieved quickly, and fairings suffered less impact damage than when caught.