Rocket Lab is hosting a press conference with CEO Peter Beck to discuss the company's most recent Electron booster recovery and its progress on reusing rockets:
Thread: $RKLB
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck: "The point of this flight was to test a few different technologies, but we also introduced helicopters for the first time."
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck: The next recovery flight will be one where we catch the Electron booster with the helicopter. $RKLB
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck: "Usually we see a fair bit of beating up on the heat shield on the bottom and a fair bit of load on that. But this time with the modifications we made down there for this flight. we're very, very happy with the results."
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck: This last launch was "a block upgrade" for Electron, which had "a lot of new changes" including "a stretched second stage."
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck says the next recovery attempt will be dependent on "helicopter readiness," as Rocket Lab has "a significantly larger helicopter in work" and it "needs some modifications" done to be ready to catch Electron.
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck adds that Rocket Lab hopes to make the first helicopter catch of an Electron booster on a "flight within the first half of next year or as soon as practically possible."
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck: The Electron block upgrade "is the last major upgrade to the vehicle that we were planning."
No advertised increase in payload capacity due to the added hardware for recoveries.
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck says the schedule for launching from NASA's Wallops in Virginia is still "a little bit up in the air" but the company will "try and get there in the first half" of 2022.
The AFTS software is the hold up, which was "supposed to be complete by the end of this year."
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck: "The beautiful thing about the helicopter recovery is the actual costs" are low. Operating the helicopter costs a few thousand dollars since "you only actually fly for a few hours."
"I anticipate around 50% of Electron flights will be reusable versus expendable."
Rocket Lab's main goal of reusing rockets remains improving production output.
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck: Electron's first stage is "just a tad under" 1 metric ton at ~990 kilograms after it returns through the atmosphere.
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Rocket Lab is using a new thermal protection system (TPS) on its Electron booster with the next recovery flight, Beck says, showing off how the thing graphite "almost looks metallic."
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck says it's "highly probable" Rocket Lab will provide an update on Neutron before the end of this year.
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck says 2021 "has been just a horrible year for launch for us, it's been really really tough," citing the New Zealand COVID lockdown procedures that have slowed production."
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck: "We have a bunch of launch vehicles sitting on the floor and we're going to have to have a very, very busy 2022."
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck says Neutron boosters will not utilize parachutes for recovery, as "it's much too large a vehicle for that."
@RocketLab@Peter_J_Beck Beck: "I think anybody who's not developing a reusable launch vehicle at this point in time is developing a dead end product because it's just so obvious that this is a fundamental approach that has to be baked in from day one."
Tonight SpaceX is scheduled to launch the DART mission for NASA – a first of its kind planetary defense test, with a spacecraft that will intentionally smash into an asteroid:
The DART spacecraft was built by @JHUAPL, with @RedwireSpace contributing the navigation system and two roll-out solar arrays, while @ASI_spazio built the LICIACube satellite that will image the collision.
Scoop – SpaceX has had some recent changes to leadership of its rocket business, with a pair of VPs and a senior director leaving the company, sources told CNBC: cnbc.com/2021/11/22/elo…
VP of propulsion Will Heltsley has left, sources said, having been with the company since 2009 – Heltsley was taken off Raptor due to a lack of progress, demonstrating the intense pressure given the engine's importance to Starship. cnbc.com/2021/11/22/elo…
On the SpaceX mission and launch operations team, VP Lee Rosen and senior director Ricky Lim both left – with Rosen having been there since 2013 and Lim since 2008. cnbc.com/2021/11/22/elo…
Astra CEO Chris @Kemp and chief engineer @benjaminblyon are speaking now to reporters about the company reaching orbit.
Thread: $ASTR
@Kemp@benjaminblyon Kemp: "We're now focusing on delivering for our customers and scaling up the production and the launch cadence of our system – behind me is actually launch vehicle 0008."
@Kemp@benjaminblyon Kemp says Astra "will be sharing more soon on our schedule for the launch" of LV0008
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims releases its opinion on the Blue Origin HLS lawsuit ruling, saying that the company "does not have standing because it did not have a substantial chance of award" and, even if it did have standing, "it would lose on merits:"
This opinion is the context to the judge's ruling in Blue Origin's lawsuit earlier this month:
Elon Musk says that SpaceX hopes to complete work on the Starbase launch pad and launch tower "later this month," with more tests in December and "hopefully" an orbital Starship launch attempt in January.
Musk: "In order for life become multiplanetary we'll need maybe 1000 ships or something like that."
Musk emphasizes that NASA selected Starship for the HLS program: "Because of the mass transport capabilities ... to actually have a permanently occupied base on the Moon."
NASA's Inspector General projects the Artemis 1 mission will not launch until "summer 2022," while delays on the HLS program and new spacesuit development mean it will be "several years" later than expected until the agency lands astronauts on the Moon: oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-22-003…
The OIG report comes a week after NASA officially delayed Artemis III, the crewed lunar landing, to 2025: