Rocket Lab has implemented enhancements to the first stage of its Electron rocket to improve its resilience to ocean water, and these upgrades will be put to the test during tonight’s launch.
The mission, named “Baby Come Back,” will take place at Rocket Lab’s launch complex on the Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand, with the launch window opening at 7:30 PM EST.
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The primary objective of this mission is to deploy four satellites for NASA, two weather intelligence satellites for Spire Global, and a demonstrator satellite for Canadian company Telesat.
The NASA mission, called Starling, will evaluate the ability of the satellites to autonomously coordinate their movements, known as “swarming,” in orbit.
Additionally, the satellites will demonstrate their capacity to plan and execute maneuvers without the guidance of human mission controller.
After liftoff, the first stage of the Electron rocket will descend back to Earth with the assistance of a parachute and splash down in the Pacific Ocean.
Rocket Lab’s recovery boat will retrieve the booster from the water and transport it to a company production facility for analysis.
While Rocket Lab has previously recovered first stages from the ocean, this time they have implemented new designs to further enhance the water resistance of key engine and avionics components.
The entire recovery process will also undergo a few other modifications, such as a lighter parachute and a different method for lifting the stage out of the water.
Rocket Lab has been actively working on achieving reusability for the Electron’s first stage since late 2018, when it first started launching payloads into orbit.
In the subsequent year, the company announced its plans for two recovery methods: ocean splashdown and mid-air capture using a helicopter.
They made two attempts at helicopter capture, with the first ending partially successful as the helicopter briefly caught and released the booster.
The second attempt was called off due to a loss of telemetry data from the stage, which surprisingly yielded positive results.
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck revealed earlier this year that the Electron had endured the ocean recovery remarkably well, and many of its components even passed the qualification for flight.
Encouraged by these findings, Rocket Lab appears to have shifted its focus away from helicopter capture.
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Although the company has yet to relaunch a booster, it intends to reuse a Rutherford engine on a mission later this year.
With continuous improvements and successful recoveries, Rocket Lab is making significant strides towards its goal of making the Electron rocket more cost-effective and commercially competitive in the rapidly expanding small satellite launch market.
