Rocket Lab’s Electron rockets can hold a payload running close to 500 pounds.
It’s best known private sector competitor, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, can send some 50,000 pounds of payload into low Earth orbit via its much larger Falcon 9 rocket—it’s designed for crew and cargo vehicles, while Rocket Lab’s uses are strictly for a small satellite payload.
SpaceX’s plan for re-using rockets involves those rockets landing themselves on a solid platform, with its own engine.
Rocket Lab’s plan is different. After launching, the company’s Electron rocket would break apart in space, with the upper portion of the rocket continuing into orbit and the lower part returning to Earth.
After reentering the atmosphere, the lower part would deploy a parachute to slow its fall.
A helicopter tracking the launch would then catch the rocket’s parachute and return it to a ship for reuse.
Rocket Lab plans to begin early-stage tests of the plan in the coming year.
