Tag: Grasshopper

A Rocket on the Edge of Forever

A Rocket on the Edge of Forever

It is after all, just a test launch.  But what a test launch it is. Whenever the Falcon 9 v1.1 finally lifts off from Vandenberg, Ca. it will carry much more than a 700 lb. satellite, (as well as a couple of cubesats) which got a bargain basement price for accepting an elevated level of […]

The DC-X, NASA and the Future of RLV Development

The DC-X, NASA and the Future of RLV Development

Sunday, August 18th 2013 marked the twentieth anniversary of the first flight of one of the most unique, and influential rockets of the space age, one which never reached orbit and was never intended to. Developed under the auspices of the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO), the DC-X marked an incremental approach to solving the […]

Latest Grasshopper Test

Latest Grasshopper Test

From the SpaceX Channel: “On August 13th, the Falcon 9 test rig (code name Grasshopper) completed a divert test, flying to a 250m altitude with a 100m lateral maneuver before returning to the center of the pad. The test demonstrated the vehicle’s ability to perform more aggressive steering maneuvers than have been attempted in previous […]

Grasshopper Precision Flight

Grasshopper Precision Flight

In this video of a June 14th test flight, published last week,  the SpaceX Grasshopper makes an ascent to 1,066 feet, its highest point yet, and then comes back in for a precision landing utilizing a new set of sensors  “adding a new level of accuracy in sensing the distance between Grasshopper and the ground, enabling a more precise landing.” While the ongoing […]

Posted in: SpaceX
Next Stop for a New Hop : Spaceport America Welcomes SpaceX

Next Stop for a New Hop : Spaceport America Welcomes SpaceX

Good news for both the state of New Mexico, and that of SpaceX’s  Grasshopper RLV program.   Apparently,  if you build it, sometimes they really do come.   Spaceport America Press Release  Governor Susana Martinez today announced that Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, has signed a three-year agreement to lease land and facilities at Spaceport America to […]

Great Gams! Elon Musk Tweets a Shot Of Falcon Reusable Landing Strut

Great Gams! Elon Musk Tweets a Shot Of Falcon Reusable Landing Strut

In case anyone is still not  taking SpaceX’s attempt at developing a reusable version of the Falcon 9 seriously,  Elon Musk tweeted this photo yesterday,  of what is apparently a flight weight version of one of the Falcon 9-R’s four telescoping landing struts.  Besides learning that the vehicle will be pronounced “F-niner,”  a response to a subsequent tweet added a little more […]

SpaceX Grasshopper Climbs Another Step on the Stairway to the Heavens

SpaceX Grasshopper Climbs Another Step on the Stairway to the Heavens

Video : SpaceX Grasshopper performs another test flight, reaching a peak altitude of 820 feet, tripling its previous public record and holding  station in high winds. Looking back from some future point in time, when the humanity has established itself as a multi planet species, historians are going question  just why it was that in the post Shuttle era,  NASA, the Air […]

When Xombies Attack

When Xombies Attack

While SpaceX has been getting the lion’s share of RLV publicity lately with an increasingly ambitious set of tests for the Grasshopper test vehicle, (and a posthumous nod from Johnny Cash) it is by no means the only company pushing the envelope of closed loop control.  Working with NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center and Draper Labs,  Masten Space System’s Xombie  technology […]

New Details on SpaceX Plans Emerge

New Details on SpaceX Plans Emerge

The CRS-2 Dragon spacecraft, pictured shortly after recovery, was returned to port in Los Angeles at approximately 7:00 PM PT, Tuesday evening. As it turned out, the craft ended up returning a more substantial payload than anticipated, a total of 3,256 lbs, 200 more than planned. Details of the return, and the thruster problem which […]

Grasshopper Ring of Fire Video

Grasshopper Ring of Fire Video

  Priceless

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