Instead, Rocket Lab’s Electron boosters deploy parachutes as they descend to Earth. For a while, the company dabbled with the idea of plucking the boosters out of the sky with a helicopter. However, after tests, it decided the process was too unstable and it now fishes the boosters out of the ocean using a sea vessel.

On January 31, one of Rocket Lab’s Electron boosters launched four private satellites to low Earth orbit. The rocket’s first stage then performed a soft splashdown in the ocean and Rocket Lab retrieved the rocket.

It’s not the first time Rocket Lab has done this. However, the January 31 booster is set to be the first the company actually reflies to orbit. The company has analyzed previous boosters to determine whether they are capable of flying again. Now, it is finally sending one back to the production line for final testing.

“Through an iterative development process, we have methodically perfected each step of Electron recovery while simultaneously continuing to increase our Electron production capacity and launch cadence. This is the exciting final piece of the puzzle before Electron goes reusable,” Peter Beck, Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO, explained in a statement last week.

“Our key priority in pushing this stage back into the standard production flow for the first time is to ensure our systems and qualification processes are fit for accepting pre-flown boosters at scale,” he continued. “If this stage successfully passes and is accepted for flight, we’ll consider opportunities for reflying it in the new year.”

Electron booster to undergo rigorous tests

During the final phase of testing for the booster, it will have to pass “rigorous qualification and acceptance testing”, Rocket Lab explained in its statement.

In its bid to make Electron reusable, Rocket Lab says it has greatly improved in a few key areas over the past few years. These include “honing the telemetry and tracking systems so the marine recovery team can locate the stage as soon as it splashes down” and “streamlining the process of collecting the stage from the water in less than an hour.”

In August last year, Rocket Lab also successfully flew a rocket with a reused Rutherford engine for the very first time.

SpaceX is currently the world leader in reusable rocket technology. Elon Musk’s space company pioneered the technology and it hopes to take it to the next level with its Starship program. 

Rocket Lab may become the second satellite launch company to join what would be a very exclusive club. However, China isn’t far behind. The company’s main state contractor recently performed a series of engine tests on a reusable rocket engine.