Rocket Lab used a helicopter to catch one of their rocket boosters as it floated back to Earth on a parachute - but then the pilot decided to release it and drop it into the water, because of unusual behavior they hadn't predicted.
From Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck's own tweets:
"they were not happy with the way it was flying" -- so that sounds like maybe the dangling booster was flopping around in the airstream, as the helicopter continued flying with it. What are possible solutions to that? Try to catch it in higher thinner air for less drag effects? Change the arrangement of the parachute lines? Could it be possible to use some kind of more elastic "bungee cord" type of cable, to damp down oscillatory motion? Or what about a computer-controlled winch which could dynamically reel the booster in or out, to likewise dampen its oscillations?
Do they need a bigger helicopter? Are there any other larger or more powerful alternatives to the Sikorsky S-92 they're currently using? How about the CH-47 Chinook?
From Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck's own tweets:
"they were not happy with the way it was flying" -- so that sounds like maybe the dangling booster was flopping around in the airstream, as the helicopter continued flying with it. What are possible solutions to that? Try to catch it in higher thinner air for less drag effects? Change the arrangement of the parachute lines? Could it be possible to use some kind of more elastic "bungee cord" type of cable, to damp down oscillatory motion? Or what about a computer-controlled winch which could dynamically reel the booster in or out, to likewise dampen its oscillations?
Do they need a bigger helicopter? Are there any other larger or more powerful alternatives to the Sikorsky S-92 they're currently using? How about the CH-47 Chinook?
Last edited:
