Jan 26
Screw the Grammys. The only thing I want to see tonight is this tiny short by Wayne Unten showing the imagined takeoff of Olivia Wright in 1903, "the first to pilot the great grasshoppers of North America."
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Dec 10
We all have to crawl before we can walk, and NASA’s Morpheus lander is no different—well, except for the fact that "crawl," in this case, actually means burst into a pile of flames. But all that’s in the past, and NASA’s taken to their YouTube and Instagram accounts to show off the absolutely stunning success of the new Morpheus prototype’s very first (successful) free flight.
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Oct 12
In the past few months SpaceX’s Grasshopper has done test runs that included jaunts
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Aug 14
You’ve seen the SpaceX Grasshopper blast off, hover
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Jul 06
SpaceX shows off new nav gear with latest Grasshopper rocket launch-and-landing (video)
Posted in: Today's Chili
We’ve been watching as the SpaceX Grasshopper’s leap has grown higher and higher with each successive launch (and landing!), and the rocket’s flights never fail to impress. The reusable spacecraft’s latest test is no exception: this time, the ‘hopper sailed past its previous 840 feet record, stopping at 1,066 feet. According to the company, the launch had a “more precise” landing thanks to new sensors that measure distance between the ground and the vessel. It shows. The touch-down is both noticeably smoother than previous efforts and drama free compared to Russia’s explosive incident in Kazakhstan. The private spaceflight company’s latest video is after the break — do yourself a favor and watch it in HD.
Filed under: Science
Source: SpaceX (YouTube)
May 07
Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic crew will soon have a new neighbor at Spaceport America, as SpaceX has just signed a three-year lease to the facility. Central to the agreement, SpaceX will move its Grasshopper reusable rocket test program from McGregor, Texas to the southern New Mexico desert, where it aims to push Grasshopper higher than before. According to SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, the move was due to New Mexico’s favorable regulatory situation, along with the physical landscape of the Spaceport America site. As fun as that sounds, though, we’d like to imagine that the opportunity to rub shoulders with other celebs in the commercial space industry clinched the decision.
[Photo credit: Spaceport America / Flickr]
Filed under: Transportation
Apr 23
Watch SpaceX’s Grasshopper Break Its Record For Taking Off and Landing Vertically
Posted in: Today's Chili
Another day, another Johnny Cash-accompanied test of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Grasshopper rocket—which is not to say this isn’t exciting, because consistency is the name of the game for a commercial reusable rocket. Especially the Grasshopper, which can take off and land vertically. In this most recent test, the Grasshopper takes off, hovers at about 820 feet, and lands neatly back on its launch pad. For those who haven’t been keeping track, that’s about triple the height of the last test, and six times higher than the test before that! [Elon Musk] More »
Apr 22
SpaceX’s Grasshopper VTOL rocket triples its previous best with 840-foot hop (video)
Posted in: Today's Chili 
If it were in Aesop’s fable, SpaceX‘s Grasshopper would probably be the ant instead, as the reusable rocket’s team haven’t stopped working since the 10-story craft launched back in September. It just tripled its previous altitude mark of 263 feet by soaring to 840 feet, hovering a tick, then gently landing on the exact spot it took off, all while making it look easy. Head after the jump for a video of the whole affair, which was captured rather dramatically by the company’s hexacopter.
Filed under: Transportation, Science
Source: SpaceX (YouTube)
Mar 11
Jan 14
Watch SpaceX’s Grasshopper rocket hover, from its own point of view (video)
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Ever wonder what it would be like to hover 131 feet above the ground through rocket power? You could come close with a jetpack, or you could watch a new SpaceX video that shows the Grasshopper reusable rocket’s own perspective. The new angle on a December test flight emphasizes just how quick and precise the hover routine has become: it takes little time for the Grasshopper to stop at its intended altitude, and the rocket doesn’t bob or sway to any significant degree. We’d most like to see the rocket reach its full two-mile potential, but we’ll gladly be distracted by the recent footage found after the break.
Continue reading Watch SpaceX’s Grasshopper rocket hover, from its own point of view (video)
Filed under: Transportation
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