Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Rocket Lab Aims At Reusability With Parachute Efforts

Manhattan Beach-based Rocket Lab, which develops rockets for launching small satellites into space, has made another step to making its rockets reusable, saying that it has completed its first prototype of a parachute which will help in its recovery of its rockets. The parachute design--which CEO Peter Beck said would entering a low altitude drop and capture test program next week--would help Rocket Lab further reduce the cost of its rocket launches. Reusability of components has been a major part of efforts to reduce the cost of putting payloads into space, and has been the hallmark of another local space rocket developer, SpaceX. Rocket Lab has said it eventually hopes to capture the first stage of its rockets by using a parachute and then snagging that rocket via helicopter. Rocket Lab is focusing its launch efforts on small satellites.