Grasshopper Takes Its First Hop / 9-21-12
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN references it as the first Grasshopper test flight, a milestone in the history of reusable rockets.
What it is
SpaceX footage of the Grasshopper vertical takeoff and landing test vehicle making its first roughly 6-foot hop in McGregor, Texas, on September 21, 2012. It was an early step toward a reusable Falcon 9 first stage.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2012 to 2020.
What Hacker News said
Cites someperson · 2012-11 · on “SpaceX VTOL rocket "Grasshopper" hops 5.4m”
This follows from the first test flight in late-September [this video] . > "Testing of Grasshopper continues, with the next big milestone -- a hover at roughly 100 feet -- expected in the next several months." This is preparation for the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) rocket SpaceX wants to build [LINK] And the reason why they're doing this: [LINK] > But a fully reusable rocket could change the equation dramatically. Musk illustrated the point by citing SpaceX's Falcon 9, which costs between $50 million to $60 million per launch in its current configuration. > "But the cost of the fuel and oxygen and so forth is only about $200,000," Musk said."So obviously, if we can reuse the rocket, say,
Cites someperson · 2012-11 · on “SpaceX VTOL rocket Grasshopper hops 5.4m”
This follows from the first test flight in late-September [this video] . > "Testing of Grasshopper continues, with the next big milestone -- a hover at roughly 100 feet -- expected in the next several months." This is preparation for the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) rocket SpaceX wants to build [LINK] And the reason why they're doing this: [LINK] > But a fully reusable rocket could change the equation dramatically. Musk illustrated the point by citing SpaceX's Falcon 9, which costs between $50 million to $60 million per launch in its current configuration. > "But the cost of the fuel and oxygen and so forth is only about $200,000," Musk said."So obviously, if we can reuse the rocket, say,
Cites conroy · 2013-08 · on “SpaceX Grasshopper completes highest leap to date”
I upvoted this thinking it was a new test, but sadly this is an older result from two months ago. To make amends for upvoting without reading the article, here is the history of Grasshopper's public flights Date Altitude Duration Youtube 2012-09-21 1.8 m 3 seconds [this video] 2012-11-01 5.4 m 8 seconds [LINK] 2012-12-17 40 m 29 seconds [LINK] 2013-03-07 80 m 34 seconds [LINK] 2013-04-17 250 m 61 seconds [LINK] 2013-06-14 325 m 68 seconds [LINK]
Cites dredmorbius · 2020-12 · on “SpaceX launches and nearly lands starship on its first suborbital flight”
Very few rocket launches end with any kind of soft landing, let alone main boosters. Soft-landing a small payload, or in the case of the shuttle, a winged reentry vehicle, is the exception. (And yes, the Shuttle also soft-ish watered its SRBs underr chutes.) Retrorocket-soft-landing intact boosters from production launches fully upright was science fiction until four years ago. [LINK] The test platform was first hopped in 2012, only 8 years ago. [this video] (I'm not a Musk fanboi,I thought the powered landing was nuts, he proved me wrong.)