legitimately so curious how Rocket Lab is gonna get through a "Mach 8.5" reentry without a reentry burn a la SpaceX. Even without the potential damage that would do to the engine section, carbon composites famously have horrible heat resistance.https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1158860507706773504 …
I think the biggest issue here is mass to orbit. Added mass for recovery means smaller payloads. For a Falcon 9 this isn't that big of an issue for most payloads but when you're already limited to about 200kg, how low can you go?