Electron Is Going Reusable

Rocket Lab has detailed plans to recover and re-fly Electron's first stage to support increased launch frequency for small satellites.

[@warpdrive9229]

Since it catches an electron, the chopper should be called *proton* .

[@Cailus3542]

Warp Drive Call the ship Neutron and you have a happy atomic family.

[@NilsAusta]

or Cation

[@sirius2383]

Facts

[@ultralaggerREV1]

Warp Drive We have the Russian Proton rocket

[@birdie9381]

Maybe there will be a rocket called the nuetrom

[@posteren551]

respect to the camaraman for running along the rocket!

[@Heliocentriciv]

"umm actually no..." - koolkid432

[@ReazerDev]

Running 😂😂

[@docnathan3959]

Wasn’t he on some high-altitude aircraft?

[@docnathan3959]

Anthony Boag r/woooosh

[@arneladubinovic9278]

No crunch its anamy

[@milkhbox]

Ok, that's freaking cool. Wouldnt have figured a rocket this small would even need to be reusable given its already, relatively, low cost. If these guys can pull this off, then we're well on our way to dirt cheap launches. Very impressive. Best of luck to you!

[@vfestberg]

In the presentation he said the main reason for reusability in this case is not the cost, but actually launch frequency. They are licensed for one launch every 72 hours and their current target is once a week!

[@milkhbox]

@@vfestberg Correct. I watched this video and commented before watching the presentation. Still this will inevitably lower launch costs as well as increase launch frequency.

[@assaulth3ro911]

Do we finally get our Elysium space station now?!

[@shadab8798]

Ya surely they will try to lower the cost as spacex also starting dedicated rideshare services which is half price as compared to rocket lab.So to compete it's important for rocket lab

[@SteveSiegelin]

Also as of right now the rocket per kilogram is $22,000 total at lunch whereas Falcon 9 is only $2,900 at lunch due to reuse ability. Essentially it will be able to recover a second rocket recharge it and if everything goes right relaunch it!

[@simil-kung5610]

Normally, Helicopters are trying to avoid rockets.

[@astuli]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@marinaclaridades4866]

Your profile pic is perfect with what you said

[@dudeman4514]

1918: we will have flying cars 2019: helicopters willingly approaching rockets

[@abhigyanverma6542]

@@dudeman4514 FALLING rockets with parachutes

[@ScrapTechTips]

Well this really cracked me up as it matched your masterpiece of a profile pic

[@SimplySpace]

The most important question is, what's the ship going to be named? Is it time for a Twitter poll?

[@lunch6360]

It’s a kiwi ship, it’ll be called ‘chur’ or ‘cuz’ or ‘chur cuzzy’

[@SimplySpace]

@@lunch6360 I'm thinking stick with the physics theme and call it "The Cathode"

[@lunch6360]

Yeah maybe, I was thinking something that represents the broader kiwi community, more inclusive, cuz

[@SimplySpace]

@@lunch6360 Yea, I'd like something kiwi too, maybe so people can stop mocking our accent "Ricovery Shup"

[@SushiByTheSea]

Simply Space Boaty McBoatface

[@agentc8542]

Nice to see how the space industry is going reuseable

[@adamrezabek9469]

@Norm T Or methane, which can also be made out of water+co2+electricity

[@coolfred9083]

​@Norm T Why are you saying it sarcastically like as if going green would be a bad thing?

[@DangItshere]

Petition to name the mission for the first soft water landing "Ocean Man, Take me by the hand"

[@moderndaynerd9873]

that's a good one man

[@brokoli3d]

Dang Itshere everytime they successfully recover the booster, the Ocean man song starts playing 🎵

[@fitrianhidayat]

Wasn't the plan to retrieve the rockets in the air? So technically there's no landing

[@alonelyz1981]

ModernDayNerd Rocket Man, Take me by the parachutes*

[@wazda6488]

WOOOO OCEAN MAN OCEAN MANA GONNA TAKE HIM BY DA HAND

[@jerry3790]

There was no pressure on rocket lab to make their rockets reusable but they’re doing it anyway!

[@billhanna2148]

🤔 excuse me but they're following in Elon's trail ..it wouldn't be cool if they didn't at least try

[@machy8515]

8492 FPV THEY MEAN REUSEABLITY

[@t_c5266]

Theres actually huge pressure. Currently spacex is going to go in to smallsat rideshares that will undercut rocketlab by about half price. rocketlab's entire business model is based around smallsat launches. if they cant keep the costs lower than spacex, they will go under

[@tomthetoaster8004]

its much more affordable to re-use them...take it from me.

[@AmbientMorality]

@@t_c5266 Rocket Lab's customers are ones who want dedicated launches for mission flexibility, specific orbital requirements, or other specialized mission needs. SpaceX's rideshare program is more of a competitor to Spaceflight Industries, who manifests and coordinates rideshare missions aboard various launch vehicles. Even still, SpaceX doesn't even target cubesats with their program - Spaceflight could still book a slot on SpaceX's rideshare program with several various cubesats.

[@pvandekuijt]

I love the fact that there's actual competition going on right now in low cost commercial rocket launch companies! Reusability is the future, and this might lower the already low costs even more. RocketLab, you rule!

[@CanineDefenseTechnologies]

I felt horrible those BEAUTIFUL carbon fiber boosters get lost every launch, so Happy they plan to reuse!!!!!

[@alt8791]

Gappy?

[@CanineDefenseTechnologies]

@@alt8791 haha sorry sir, am guilty for some Word Crimes

[@alt8791]

@@CanineDefenseTechnologies you're good, just joking

[@CanineDefenseTechnologies]

@@alt8791 Yes I know, I was just joking too haha

[@russellmmo_8454]

Beautiful * not beutiful

[@bsfatboy]

The helicopter should be named “Cherry picker”

[@charliecoronado4657]

I think it should be named RPG Rocket Propelled Grabber.. lol so much irony....

[@joyl7842]

Congratulations on retrieving your first rocket today! It looked in fine shape.

[@Trex531]

Great move Rocket Lab, wish you the best success! 👍

[@bobbob123ful]

Exactly what you guys needed after SpaceX sharing their updated rideshare news. That being said, I have a few hours playing flight simulators, wanna hire me as the helicopter pilot?

[@ScrapTechTips]

Na man I got IRL training for 50 mins is that enough?

[@ScrapTechTips]

@@noidontthinksolol storm rocket lab, they cannot stop all of us.

[@FiNiTe_weeb]

I landed a VTOL in ksp a few times, I'd do it.

[@ScrapTechTips]

@@noidontthinksolol to release the electrons

[@doctorwho7221]

I have 400 hours of ksp logged, hire me instead

[@gutz-Coldrevenge]

elon musk: we can land our rockets... Rocket labs: Hold my beer

[@Smellindamix]

What do you mean? SpaceX rockets are like orders of magnitude bigger and land themselves

[@burggerbig102]

@@Smellindamix It doesn't matter too much about the accuracy as long as they can reuse the rocket. Also parachute adds way less weight compares to grid fins and landing legs. And SpaceX couldn't get the falcon heavy's center core for three times due to over heating or weather is too extreme for the droneship to come back and damaged the rocket.

[@DragonSFS]

@@burggerbig102 Actually the core stage succeded in landing on the arabsat 6A launch

[@cicadadefender]

*hold my kiwi

[@stirhaven1981]

@@burggerbig102 Accuracy matters a lot for ease of reuse.

[@Scrogan]

Cheaper than a powered landing, less messy than recovering it from the water, looks like you’ve got a pretty good setup.

[@soundestmonk]

Powered landings would require more fuel which with how much fuel little electron holds now I don't even think they would really be able to make it to orbit because you have to save fuel for the entry and landing burn. If they made electron bigger it would basically be a medium rocket and Rocket Labs isn't in the business for medium rockets.

[@flybeep1661]

Your "cheaper" argument only works from a certain interpretation. The Falcon's powered landings are cheaper when viewed as a percentage of its launch costs while the electron rocket would be cheaper in absolute terms.

[@b4nes]

This seems quite challenging, and yet so simple. I wish you guys all the best in your endeavours!

[@BlitzvogelMobius]

This has been common method for recovering high performance drone aircraft since the 60s, if not before. Helps when your rocket is so small. Honestly, I think developing the speed breaking ballute will be the biggest challenge within all of this.

[@flybeep1661]

@@BlitzvogelMobius Do you have any source for that. I'm an aviation enthusiast and have never heard that before. Neither have I heard of "drones" being used in the 50s and 60s. This recovery method has indeed been used before in the 50s and 60s to recover satellite space capsules (look up Corona program, a joint CIA and Air Force program) containing photographic reconaissance data, not drones. Where are you getting your information from because I think you're just talking without really knowing.

[@BlitzvogelMobius]

@@flybeep1661 Look up the Ryan BQM-34 Firebee.

[@VlekSoT]

Wow. YES! Good for you guys! Amazing to hear. Good luck!

[@brennanmielke898]

ULA, Ariane space, CNSA, and now Rocket Lab it’s nice to see more reusable concepts like this it’s helping space exploration as a whole and hopefully can prevent Space X from becoming a monopoly

[@no_life_without_science8343]

👌

[@גבריאלפאלקאו]

That's a fear, to have SpaceX monopolising everything. Competition is the best way to have price drops and technology development.

[@matterwiz1689]

Yeah but the way I see it, spacex becoming a monopoly is kind of a punishment for the aerospace industry stopping to push boundaries. The industry was basically stagnant for a decade after development of the shuttle stopped (Same thing for Tesla and the automotive industry btw). It usually just takes someone innovating where others think it's not worth it to get an entire industry back into work mode. That's how progress should be.

[@danchang9976]

Gabriel Falcão the best product wins. The falcon 9 should already be a monopoly financially speaking. They are only going to improve so i wouldn’t be worried. Saves tax money then I’m all for spacex monopolising it. There is only a certain extent you can go with this. BFR is the peak. 100% reusability.

[@matterwiz1689]

@@danchang9976 yes of course but it also forces other companies to innovate. Progress👌

[@matterwiz1689]

You can't even imagine how happy this announcement makes me

[@brickmotionfilms566]

Damm I feel really happy to see rocket lab growing up and becoming better and better I wish you guys the best!

[@kiodoiii8794]

Elon Musk: “This is absolutely adorable!!!”

[@jeffvader811]

@@lawerancelanham Not really. Propulsive landings don't scale well, small rockets have lower mass ratios and are more affected by drag because of the square cube law, so a passive recovery using little propellant is actually the smartest move for a small vehicle. Saving enough fuel for propulsive landing would reduce their payload to zero.

[@PeterJansen]

@@lawerancelanham Find me a helicopter that could swoop a Falcon 9 out of the sky. F9 is huuuuuuuuuge compared to Electron.

[@caav56]

@@PeterJansen There were projects to recover Saturn V first stage like this. Heli would've been enormous.

[@SimplySpace]

It's a very SMART idea. I can't wait to see this!

[@brennanmielke898]

Vulcan Puns, I get it

[@engrsmukhtar]

I get the reference

[@dmo4657]

facebook.com/solarcar.rvce/

[@RR-zt3qg]

This is just awesome looking forward to see it in action

[@T3ki1a_]

When you live streamed I was open mouth even after the end ... That was beautiful

[@Rando104854]

Love to see all the AWESOME ways that we are trying to make (all)these rockets reusable!!! Great stuff!.

[@peppi0304]

SpaceX: We catch our fairings with a ship. Rocket Lab: We CAtCh OUr ENtIrE FIrSt STaGe WiTh a HEliCopTeR Mid AiR!!!

[@Tristan_3D]

Two Years Later, in 2022 they finally did it :D Good Job Rocket Lab.

[@babyUFO.]

Here we are, 2 years later, 0 re-used.

[@brightax7502]

stupid Covid 19

[@titan1286]

When I heard this news I subscribed to rocket lab

[@whatdamath]

will parachute and helicopter be 3d printed too?

[@felreymiguel5734]

Lol nice one

[@notkray8468]

Good Luck Rocket Lab!Cant believe the competition of space exploration is getting so hype!

[@patrick7975]

It’s great to see competition in the space world through reusability, with falcon 9 ride sharing and electron reusability both coming soon, the cost for space flight will be coming down dramatically, love it!!

[@osmarneto2224]

GREAT! We all wish success, Electron ❤️🚀🚁🛳️

[@ErVeroJammed]

I'm from november 2020, i confirm it's going reusable

[@danielwhyatt3278]

Well then, here we go. We all knew this was going to come along eventually. Now we’ve got some real competition on the table. Now all we’ve got to do is twizzle our fingers a little longer for blue origin to finally get a move on.

[@Bastekxyz]

Music used in this video is: Cody Martin - Attack on London

[@gergelyszeles9948]

Rocket Lab:Electron Is Going Reusable Spacex:Why do i hear boss music

[@TypicalBlox]

Spacex: * uses Starship in fully reusable mode card * Rocket lab: * has fled the scene *

[@ansterling522]

Wouldn't it he cool if rocket lab made a electron heavy. It would be like the falcon heavy but it is three electron cores

[@shuryimaziz3426]

that wouldn’t work because if they did do it would still only be able to launch 900kgs so it would still be a small sat launcher you’d need 3 neutrons for a heavy lift vehicle

[@ComedyBush]

Props for reusing the rockets! My 3rd most fav company in the world! #spacex #tesla #rocketlab

[@toasterbathboi6298]

yes! YES! Reusable rockets! MORE REUSABLE ROCKETS!

[@emkalp5092]

MOOOOOOOOOOOORE !!!

[@elonmusk6661]

I wish you guys good luck.

[@pokergroupdigital5290]

You are my faforite space company! Great👍👍👍👍

[@funny-video-YouTube-channel]

Nice concept. Looks like it could work as long as the helicopter can avoid flying rockets :-) Such technology will make space access cheaper and more useful for all the possible things we can do in space. *Asteroid mining here we come !*

[@drewpalagyi9087]

No reentry burn needed? Actually surprised by that.

[@ReasonsWhy1]

this feels like a movie tailor, the suspenseful music, fast cuts, lots of different camera angles. it's amazing haha.

[@friendstype25]

Peter Beck is currently eating his hat. Exciting times!

[@samuelparamor3726]

He never said he wouldn't reuse rockets, he didn't want to propulsively land boosters

[@cursed_train_vids342]

@@samuelparamor3726 and he just announced he will

[@samuelparamor3726]

@@cursed_train_vids342 I know haha, times change

[@starstuff4103]

Since the rocket is small comparatively....it can be captured by the helicopter......a brilliant idea 💡my loving rocket lab team.....make more research on ur rocket and make it the big 'littile one'.i wish i could work with u guys when i grow big.......

[@petroscephas]

Amazing. Very good. Can't wait for Flight "N"!

[@bbeen40]

So many variables with this. Easier said than done, I'll believe this when I see it. Good luck!!

[@odysseusrex5908]

Exactly what I used to say about SpaceX.

[@jeffvader811]

I guarantee this will not be the last reusable vehicle we'll see being developed in our lifetimes. In 50 years I'm certain all rockets will be at least partially, if not fully reusable at this rate.

[@roligupta9660]

Good to see that the space industry are innovating to make commercial space flight cheaper and widely available 👍

[@acemax1124]

Very nice and hopefully this will bring them massive amount of saving with there rocket system ! I hope they can reuse the rocket like SpaceX does many times over ! Congratulations to the team keep being innovative with your system !

[@ПолорЄлеон]

So it's now a race for "second reusable rocket in the world"? I'm happy about it, wish you great luck, Rocketlab!

[@nikkothegoblin]

YEEEAAAHHH I am so excited for Rocket Lab! A great company getting even better

[@The.RandomTube]

16- "Return to Sender"🔥

[@BasicFlashCube]

Good luck with that parachute not collapsing from the helicopter downwash!

[@JMMC1005]

Probably why they went for a parafoil. The rocket is flying forward at a decent speed, so as long as the chopper is high enough above it, the downwash will pass behind the chute.

[@johnnyxp64]

I don't know how fast the rocket will dissent with the parashoot open and how it will drug down the chopper when hooked! also what happens if they winds are strong and they cant catch it!?? or the parashoot doesn't deploy?...🙄🙄🙄

[@sudarshan3965]

In strong winds even space x reusable rockets won't land successfully

[@johnnyxp64]

@@sudarshan3965 in the sea... sometimes...on the ground they do pretty damn good i would say... still they don't have launches of Strong winds but... a parasute is way more sensitive to winds than a rocket!

[@samovarmaker9673]

Rocket Lab should make a heavy lift rocket and called Muon, then a superheavy lift rocket named Tau.

[@TheMysticGauntlet]

For the Greater Good.

[@StarshipSN10]

Sad that we won’t see this irl, as rocket lab has shifted to ocean recovery full time.

[@michaelwoodhams7866]

Ships and heavy lift helicopters aren't cheap. How does the economics of ships, helicopters and multiple launch sites work? One ship, recovery only from LZ1, or one ship per launch site? Are there second hand (sorry, I mean Float-Proven) ships that could fill this role, or will something need to be custom built? One Rocket Lab owned helicopter per ship? Helicopters leased on a per-mission basis? One helicopter owned by Rocket Lab, shuttles around the world from launch site to launch site as needed? Are there any launch profiles which would allow the helicopter to be deployed from land?

[@_Andrew2002]

Michael Woodhams Remember SpaceX has two giant autonomous ships, 4 boats and a tugboat

[@ArKritz84]

The ship in the animation looks like a bog-standard PSV to me. Maybe some adaption of crane(s) and a cradle needs to be added. The empty mass of the 1st stage is 0,95t, so pretty much any turboshaft helicopter will do. Probably want a twin engine one for operations over water and for safety margin. They'll probably lease the whole setup, at least for testing purposes, but this isn't exactly rocket science. That part they've got down.

[@christopherpardell4418]

If they can afford to throw away boosters- they can afford to buy a helicopter so they don’t have to throw them away. One saved booster would pay for the helicopter.

[@donjones4719]

@@ArKritz84 "bog-standard PSV"? Translation please. Do I recall the type of ship and helicopter shown in common use for off-shore oil fields? Not sure a specialized crane and cradle needed. Doesn't have to leave the helipad. Booster sections are pushed around the factory by hand. So just strap it sideways to the chopper; when near land, fly it direct to the factory. No offloading, transferring to truck needed. (OK, can be tricky to move things around on a deck at sea. But lots of heavy stuff is moved around on aircraft carriers without cranes.)

[@ArKritz84]

Don Jones yes, I was referring to a platform supply vessel. I suppose range would preclude them from using a helicopter alone, and also the booster itself is quite fragile, and better handled on a ship.

[@thetechnoking]

I just love how there are many competition to launch better rockets. I was born in the right time.

[@t_c5266]

Everyone is saying they don't need to do this. Well, they do. Currently it costs about 5mil for them to send 100kg in to space. Spacex announced they are going to be doing smallsats for about 2.5mil for 150kg. thats 50kg more for half the price. if rocketlab didnt figure out how to cut costs, they'd be out of business

[@ITTechHead]

LOL. SpaceX ride share will be only one launch per year and only to SSO orbits. SpaceX launch prices are subsidized by SpaceX charging US government 60% more. Rocket Lab is 150kg to 500km SSO or up to 225kg to elliptical orbit. With "photon" as the satellite bus, it "effectively" equivalent of 210kg to 500km orbit.

[@JonoDavis609]

Rocket Lab have the advantage of being able to fulfill a launch in months and maybe even weeks for certain customers. They also precisely deploy their payloads as oposed to space x spitting them out like gravel. For this reason rocket lab will retain all the government contracts and established small sat operators despite a higher price point.

[@JayJayAviation]

What kinda of heat protection system for the engines are you guys looking at?

[@spacebread501]

That is actually pretty awesome. Keep going, guys.

[@Yutani_Crayven]

It's hard to get excited about anything below the human scale in spaceflight but reusability among the things that will always be absolutely awesome until the day that everyone has mastered it. You go, Rocket Lab guys! Best of luck!

[@garbon1450]

Best luck to you!

[@odysseusrex5908]

Cool beans. I certainly hope you can make it work.

[@itsadisood]

Future of deep space exploration seems so good!! ♥️ Thank you #SpaceX #RocketLab #BlueOrigin ...

[@unacceptableminority7101]

When you have the smallest rocket in the room but want to compete with the big boys ...

[@Muonium1]

Sometimes I wish I were a raspberry

[@nothingbut2220]

I’m a SpaceX fan for life but this... this makes me excited for this company

[@mastershooter64]

Wtf? How did you guys get my idea oh no gotta be careful and shouldn't throw my designs and ideas in that trash bin in starbucks

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Just going to Starbucks is probably a waste...😁

[@razzakahmad8731]

The video literally made it look easier. Hope to see this in reality as well gud luck rocket lab.

[@idjles]

Kiwis don't need no grid fins!

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Being near AUSTRALIA, I would think they would use *_"fin grids"._* 😝😝😝

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@Incognito >>> If I have to explain it, you would not understand. {PLUS, it is 04:56 local time on a Sunday. My BRAIN is NOT up to operating temperature yet....}

[@donochetti2177]

That heli pilot job is going to be insane

[@KesslerSpaceIndustries]

Ohhhh fook.. Now my old idea has just been copied.. But actually, you did a good job on the animating the recovery.. Now, I'm just working on the whole DC-X VTOL rocket in one stage..

[@KesslerSpaceIndustries]

@@Why2k4 yeah true.. I am actually testing it out with a drone and a long pylon with a parachute on a small scale.. It works but the problem is the same with parachutes, it is not accurate..

[@KesslerSpaceIndustries]

But with a paragliding chute, maybe it would work..

[@KesslerSpaceIndustries]

@@Why2k4 my answer to that is... Irl

[@odysseusrex5908]

that was called the X-33 Venturestar. Died of politics.

[@1337BlueBird]

"But, how we gonna put the rocket safely on the boat ? " "Idk, just cut the video"

[@Fr223Laboratories]

Reminds me of Armadillo Aerospace's Stig rocket recovery system.

[@Fe4rN4ught]

Ambitious and awesome, best of luck to the Rocket Lab Team.

[@pandentia3529]

No entry burn? Hopefully aerodynamic forces don't damage the rocket on its way back down. Definitely looking forward to seeing the first recovered Electron though!

[@ryanspence5831]

My bet is on an inflatable heatshield that wraps around the engines and injects foam to conform to the engines to protect them during reentry

[@ElizabethGreene]

If they can save the electric turbopump system that alone would be a huge cost savings. If they get that and the engines then I'd be ecstatic.

[@ryanspence5831]

@@ElizabethGreene That's definitely the most expensive part... the specs for those batteries alone are insane. The engines themselves are fairly cheap, being entirely 3d printed, but i'm sure they're not free. It'd also be nice to save the carbon-fiber fuselage.

[@G5rry]

@@ryanspence5831 I read that they jettison batteries throughout the launch as they are being used up to reduce weight. I doubt they could be recovered unless they have parachutes too (which I don't think they do). Recovery of the rocket will be awesome. Hopefully they can do something about the batteries.

[@moderndaynerd9873]

Interesting idea... can't wait to see the first tests

[@antr7493]

Two flat earthers down voted this. Keep it up Rocket Lab

[@arnavkalgutkar6169]

Or Bezos' Body Odour boys

[@arnavkalgutkar6169]

Or some rabid musk fans not realizing that competition will benefit everyone in the long run

[@TypicalBlox]

@@arnavkalgutkar6169 elon musk supports rocket lab so this argument is invalid

[@dermax_hd]

This aged very very well!

[@idjles]

Are you going to reuse the batteries that you jettison?

[@FPV-wi8fw]

The jettisoned batteries burn up in the atmosphere. It would be extremely difficult to reuse anything that's a part of the 2nd stage

[@TJ80ify]

cant get enough of this stuff

[@manuelpizarroamaya8842]

*Hype intensifies*

[@deeacosta2734]

Very smart. Congratulations. Hope it works out well - sure it will.

[@theravedaddy]

Is this why mr steven is now called mystery? Has mr steven jumped....ship?

[@hunterx4787]

Worst comment of all time

[@theravedaddy]

@@hunterx4787 you must be new to the interweb.... look harder.

[@chase5720]

POV: you just got recommended this after electrons partially successful reuse attempt with the helicopter.

[@Knight7562]

i love to see new space race finally we are conquering all of the earth orbit

[@TonyGodshall]

Very cool. Surprised the parachute itself isn't the thing being hooked, it's a much bigger target

[@hobie1613]

Four SpaceX employees have disliked the video

[@3gunslingers]

Why should they?

[@jshepard152]

I doubt SpaceX considers Rocket Lab a threat, as they've shown no interest in getting into SpaceX's core market.

[@hobie1613]

J Shepard I agree, they are two different markets. I just commented to joke about it. The two very different ways of capturing and reusing rockets really amazes me.

[@jshepard152]

@@hobie1613 Have you seen what ULA is planning to do for reuse?

[@hobie1613]

J Shepard yes, I have seen that ULA is planning on reusing their engines on a guided descent via parafoil, but it just doesn’t seem as cool as reusing a whole rocket to me, although it does dramatically make the boosters more economical.

[@amiel6057]

so adorable how ppl call this as mini falcon 9

[@zenetle]

You have made thousands of your fans happy. Good luck

[@sanxchepsharma7149]

Me - Wait, I've seen this. Rocket Lab- What do you mean? It's brand new!

[@JacobWang]

SpaceX : Hold my propulsive landing

[@drabberfrog]

Electron doesn't have the margins to do a propulsive landing because of how small it is. The Falcon 9 only does a propulsive landing because of how big it is and how hard it would be to make a gigantic helicopter capable of catching it out of the sky. But they also do propulsive landings to practice for Mars because Mars's is atmosphere is 1% a as thick as Earth's atmosphere so you need to propulsively land.

[@xerosfs]

@@drabberfrog I've seen this comment before.

[@xerosfs]

@@drabberfrog It's not even true.

[@drabberfrog]

@@xerosfs What I said is true. A small rocket like electron can only put a small payload into orbit and with the extra fuel needed for a propulsive landing there wouldn't be enough margins left for payload. Peter Beck said "obviously we looked at propulsive re-entry but that was you know you only get half a napkin filled out before you realise that's not gonna work" (Peter Beck kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYbJgKGtiLGKrrs)

[@xerosfs]

@@drabberfrog I meant that Mars's atmosphere was 1% of the atmosphere of the Earth

[@nicholasalves2741]

Awesome to see this! Thank you Rocket Lab for making the dreams of many come true :)

[@gabedarrett1301]

I never would have thought that they would even consider reusability but I'm pleasantly surprised

[@L8erG8er]

Go hard Rocket Lab, you guys are fantastic! Now if you can arrange for that capture to happen somewhere over Poverty Bay, I can watch a launch and recovery all from my back yard :) Kia kaha, Rocket Lab!