SpaceX Grasshopper Makes Highest Hop Yet
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has achieved the highest “hop” of its Grasshopper vertical takeoff and landing test vehicle (VTVL), reaching almost 263 ft. on March 9 at the company’s test site in McGregor, Texas.
The VTVL, combining a modified Falcon 9 first stage, landing legs and a Merlin 1D engine, first flew last September. The testbed is a key element of SpaceX’s longer-term ambition to develop a reusable booster to lower launch costs. Following separation from the second stage, the concept involves flying the first stage of the rocket back to the launch site for an autonomous vertical landing.
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JLAmber wrote:That's amazing. I would never have thought you could achieve that level of control without using several thrusters.
Seriously though, to get that kind of stability from just the main motor gimbal mount shows how far the computer technology has come.
