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SpaceX reusability may soon be in good company as Rocket Lab catches rocket with a helicopter
Rocket Lab, the world’s most prominent dedicated small satellite launcher, has made significant headway on plans to recover and reuse the booster stage of its Electron rocket, meaning that SpaceX’s reusable Falcon rockets could finally have company.
Recovering a booster is perhaps where all similarities end, however. While the SpaceX Falcon 9 gracefully guides itself back for a controlled landing on an ocean-going drone ship or land-based landing zone, Rocket Lab’s Electron booster will be snagged straight out of the air by a helicopter with a grappling hook.
Recently, Rocket Lab completed what the company called “a major step forward” in plans to achieve full booster recoverability with the successful completion of a “mid-air recovery” test. The test occurred over the open ocean near New Zealand and featured what was identified as an “Electron first stage test article.” One helicopter released the test article at a low altitude – around 2.5km (8,000ft) – and a nearby second helicopter, outfitted with a specially designed grappling hook, swooped in and snatched it out of the sky as it plummeted toward the ocean.
Rocket Lab’s recovery efforts did not simply begin with dropping a rocket-shaped test article from a helicopter. Long before ever attempting to catch a test article falling through the sky, the company had to ensure that the first stage of the Electron booster could even survive the return trip. Rocket Lab CEO and founder, Peter Beck, referred to it as punching through the wall which best summarizes the conditions that the first stage encounters upon re-entry through on the Earth’s dense atmosphere.
The company’s tenth successful launch dubbed “Running Out of Fingers” in December of 2019 was not only successful because it delivered and deployed the payload, but it was also the first time that Electron’s first stage first made it safely through the wall intact. Unlike SpaceX’s Falcon 9 that slows during descent with a series of engine burns, Rocket Lab’s Electron orients itself for the right “angle of attack” to slow down during re-entry.
The first stage of Electron has undergone a number of block upgrades to enable re-entry in one piece. The tenth mission featured the use of the upgraded Electron booster equipped with guidance and navigation hardware, as well as, a reaction control system (RCS) to gently control and reorient the first-stage during re-entry. The RCS was able to keep the booster adequately oriented and slowed it to under 900 kilometers per hour (560mph) for a controlled sea-level impact. The following eleventh mission dubbed “Birds of a Feather” in February 2020, also featured a successful controlled descent of the upgraded Electron first stage.
The final step in slowing the Electron down enough to be recovered by a grappling hook suspended by a helicopter was to develop and test a parachute system. Beck posted a teaser of the prototype parachute on Twitter in early February promising low altitude drop tests to follow soon after. Rocket Lab stated that the successful “mid-air recovery” test occurred weeks prior to the now mandated “Safer at Home” orders given in New Zealand amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.
As reported by Michael Sheetz of CNBC, Rocket Lab will continue to test recovery efforts on an undisclosed mission scheduled for later this year. That test will exercise Electron’s RCS block upgrades and parachute system to a greater extent to slow the booster to a point of survivability upon impact with the water – a speed of about 8kilometers per hour (5mph).
Like SpaceX, Rocket Lab targets a reduction of launch costs and an increase in launch capabilities with full first-stage reusability. The dedicated launcher of small satellites also strives to further open access to space for the rapidly expanding small satellite market.
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Currently, Rocket Lab has two operational launch pads, one on New Zealand’s Mahia Penninsula and another at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Later this year a second location on New Zealand’s Mahia Penninsula will come online drastically increasing Rocket Lab’s launching capabilities.
Check out Teslarati’s newsletters for prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket launch and recovery processes.
Tesla flexed the new features of the Model Y L with a dedicated media event at the company’s Diner on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.
The Model Y L is the extended-wheelbase version of the all-electric crossover, which has been voted the best-selling car in the world on three occasions. The vehicle is already rolling off production lines at Gigafactory Texas, and first deliveries are slated to take place later this year.
Tesla brings Model Y L ‘Launch Series’ to the U.S. at $61,990
Teslarati was invited to the event, but due to some scheduling conflicts, we could not make it to Los Angeles. Instead, we will have our hands on a media unit sometime in August, so we’ll be able to spend some more extended time with the Model Y L.
However, plenty of those who made it to LA shared some cool features that set the Model Y L apart from the Model Y.
Multi-Row Climate Control
Tesla fitted the Model Y L with full climate control on all three rows on the front screen. It can be adjusted by selecting which row you’d like to modify on the right-hand side of the touch screen:
The Model Y L has a little row of icons on the right side of the climate screen so the front passenger can more quickly jump to whatever row they want to control. pic.twitter.com/uJS44mgCvk
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 30, 2026
Better Rear Window Visibility
One of the strangest things about the Model Y, especially the Juniper iteration, is the rear window has extremely limited visibility when looking into the rearview mirror.
Tesla has improved upon this with the Model Y L:
This is a drastic difference. https://t.co/wTdhitD5aA pic.twitter.com/z6hFs0Jkss
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 30, 2026
PowerShare will be included
Model Y L will come with PowerShare in North America, with an 11.5kW output to your home. Tesla said it would require Powerwall 3 for operation.
Wireless Charging Pad
There has been some speculation that Tesla would upgrade the wireless charging pads in the United States, but this is not the case.
Tesla owner fixes common feature complaint with crafty DIY retrofit
Tesla confirmed that it does not come with the cooled pads as the Y L in China does. This is because North America has not adopted Qi charging yet.
Thermal Management Improvements
These improvements in the Model Y L were seen with thermal management:
- Up to 15% faster cabin cooling
- +23% thermal efficiency gained in hot weather, 7 miles of real-world range gained
- 8x more solar energy reflection off of glass roof
- 30% reduction in solar energy entering the cabin
Some of the thermal management improvements in the new Model Y L Premium:
• Up to 15% faster cabin cooling
• Up to 15 min faster cabin cooling in sunny conditions
• +23% thermal efficiency gained in hot weather +7 miles of real-world range gained
• +10 miles recovered after… pic.twitter.com/jZirFWFdtO— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 31, 2026
Demand
Tesla said the Model Y L is almost sold out in the U.S. It comes with
- 1 year of FSD Supervised
- 1 year of Supercharging
- 1 year of Premium Connectivity
- Free exterior paint color, interior, and wheel option at no additional cost
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to his social media platform X on Thursday night to deny a ridiculous rumor regarding the sale of the company’s Chinese vehicle production plant, Gigafactory Shanghai.
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, claimed in a scathing new report that Tesla was exploring a potential sale of the entire China business in an effort to help bolster a potential merger between SpaceX and Tesla.
Musk immediately denied the rumor not once but twice, initially calling it “fake news,” and then calling it “absurdly fake news” in a separate post just a few moments later:
This is fake news
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2026
The original poster of the Wall Street Journal article that Musk saw deleted the initial post sharing the headline and the rumored sale of Tesla’s China business.
This has never even come up in a discussion ever.
Absurdly fake news.
People should assume news is fake until proven otherwise.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2026
The report seemed absolutely and unequivocally false to begin with; Tesla’s business in China is among the most important pieces of the company’s business. Not only does the factory supply vehicles for the domestic market, but also for various other markets in Asia and Europe.
China is also one of the largest automotive markets in the world, and Tesla has performed well there despite the robust competition.
The speculation regarding a Tesla and SpaceX merger has started to gain steam this year as the space exploration company went public just a month ago. There has been speculation that Musk will bridge all of his companies under one “umbrella company,” and analysts believe this could happen before the end of the decade.
The Tesla and SpaceX merger everyone is talking about is quietly building
This is the latest iteration of Musk’s very evident war on mainstream media. Reports regarding any of Musk’s companies are quick to get the dreaded “false” or “fake news” response from the CEO when they are unfounded.
Elon Musk
Tesla AI boss reveals how big Optimus is going to get
Tesla’s Optimus chief corrected himself on X, confirming a staggering 10 million robot production target.
![Tesla Optimus Gen 3 [Credit: Tesla]](https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/tesla-optimus-gen3-diner.jpg)
Tesla’s Optimus program has a new number attached to it, after Ashok Elluswamy, the executive who has run the humanoid robot program since June 2025, posted a three word correction on X Thursday, “Correction, 10 million robots.”
The line clarifies the long term annual capacity Tesla is building toward its planned second Optimus production line at Gigafactory Texas, a figure Musk has cited repeatedly since last year’s shareholder meeting.
The scale is worth noting, because ten million robots a year would mean Tesla building more units annually than most countries sell in new cars. Tesla has framed this as a second line, not the first. The buildout is happening in two phases: a roughly one million unit per year line inside Tesla’s Fremont factory, installed on the floor space vacated when Model S and Model X production ended earlier this year, and a much larger dedicated facility under construction at Giga Texas that broke ground on its first steel structure in May. That Texas facility is the one Elluswamy’s correction refers to, and is expected to reach volume production sometime in 2027.
Correction, 10 million robots https://t.co/0z4nyQNTzp
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) July 30, 2026
Tesla Optimus project fires up as Musk sees production line progress
Elluswamy took over Optimus from Milan Kovac last summer and has spent the months since talking up the program’s trajectory. Elon Musk has also floated the ten million figure at Tesla’s 2025 shareholder meeting.
Ending Model S and Model X production to make room for the first Optimus line was one of the more consequential manufacturing decisions in the company’s recent history, retiring two flagship vehicles in favor of a robot that has yet to enter mass production. Musk has previously estimated per unit production costs at $20,000 to $25,000 once Tesla reaches a million units a year, though he hasn’t said what that cost looks like at ten times the volume.
Tesla Model Y L’s new features flexed at unveiling event at Diner
Tesla CEO Elon Musk denies ridiculous Gigafactory Shanghai rumor
![Tesla Optimus Gen 3 [Credit: Tesla]](https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/tesla-optimus-gen3-diner-80x80.jpg)
