In the amazing mission ‘Catch Me If You Can’, the helicopter to catch the electronic missile mid-air
Aerospace company Rocket Lab will attempt to catch an electronic rocket mid-air with just a helicopter in a daring mission called ‘Catch Me If You Can’.
2022 is the year of important milestones in space technology. First NASA James Webb Space Telescope up and started sending we images of the universe from unimaginable distances. Scientists have been able to glimpse the most distant galaxy, oldest star clusters and more. Then, in August, NASA sent a spacecraft to crash into small planet Dimorphos to test its planetary defenses. This is also the first time in history when a person making an object moves a celestial body. And now, US aerospace company Rocket Lab is setting a milestone of its own by catching an electronic rocket mid-air with a helicopter. Interestingly, the company has named the mission ‘Catch Me If You Can’.
In May, Rocket Lab attempted Electron’s first-stage recovery on a mission called ‘There and Back Again’. This time, the mission is taking things a step further and bringing it back to a dry phase. “Our first helicopter capture just a few months ago proved that we can do what we set out to do with Electron, and we look forward to bringing helicopters back there and enhancing our capabilities.” reuse our rocket further by bringing it back to the dry phase for the first time,” speak Peter Beck, CEO and Founder, Rocket Lab.
Rocket Lab to catch Electron rocket with helicopter
This will be Rocket Lab’s 32nd Electron launch. For those unaware, Electron is a two-stage, partially recoverable orbital launch vehicle developed to serve the commercial small satellite launch market.
In the company’s first mission, a modified Sikorsky S-92 helicopter will be used. It will be deployed to a fishing area, 160 nautical miles from the Banks Peninsula in New Zealand. But what exactly will it capture? It will capture the first stage of the rocket as it re-enters from space after ejecting the carrying satellites beyond the atmosphere. The second stage will continue its journey and place the Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy (MATS) payload, a scientific research satellite, into its target orbit.
When phase one comes back The earth, it will reach a speed of 8,300 km/h. But seven minutes after launch, the rocket’s first parachute will be deployed, bringing that speed to a controllable level of 36 km/h. This is when the helicopter will match the rocket’s speed, emerge above it and hook it with its parachute pads.
