Beck, speaking remotely from New Zealand after illness prevented him from coming to the conference in person, touched on another key Rocket Lab initiative, creating a reusable version of the Electron booster. The company attempted to catch the booster with a helicopter on a May 2 launch, but unexpected loads forced the helicopter to release the booster seconds after grappling it.
The company has been “somewhat opportunistic” with making recovery attempts, he said, depending on the requirements for each mission. “You shouldn’t need to wait long” for the next recovery attempt, he said, but was not more specific.
He was confident that Rocket Lab will be able to soon recover and reuse the booster, given the progress made so far. “The biggest learning from the last one is that it is going to work,” he said.