SpaceX Grasshopper Software First - 325m Test

[bananas]

Published on Jul 5, 2013

On June 14, SpaceX's Grasshopper flew 325 m (1066 feet)--higher than Manhattan's Chrysler Building--before smoothly landing back on the pad. For the first time in this test, Grasshopper made use of its full navigation sensor suite with the F9-R closed loop control flight algorithms to accomplish a precision landing. Most rockets are equipped with sensors to determine position, but these sensors are generally not accurate enough to accomplish the type of precision landing necessary with Grasshopper.

Previous Grasshopper tests relied on the other rocket sensors but for this test, an additional, higher accuracy sensor was in the control loop. In other words, SpaceX was directly controlling the vehicle based on new sensor readings, adding a new level of accuracy in sensing the distance between Grasshopper and the ground, enabling a more precise landing.

Grasshopper is a 10-story Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle designed to test the technologies needed to return a rocket back to Earth intact. While most rockets are designed to burn up on atmosphere reentry, SpaceX rockets are being designed not only to withstand reentry, but also to return to the launch pad for a vertical landing. The Grasshopper VTVL vehicle represents a critical step towards this goal.

Grasshopper consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure.

Via http://nasawatch.com/archives/2013/07/spacex-grasshop-1.html

[cyberswede]

1. That was cool.

It doesn't look like it's 10 stories tall.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

2. Classic 1950s scifi type landing.

[heaven05]

3. ohhh

great! Can I leave? Don't need to come back.

[SHRED]

4. so what Musk is helping with...

...in his Tesla line regarding climate change, he's making up for with this and other CO2 belchers?

[bananas]

5. Not even close.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071117051020AAXmiOQ

What Kind of Pollution Comes From the Space Shuttle At Launch?
Looks pretty nasty. Where's the EPA when you need them!
6 years ago

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

According to the December 2007 issue of Discover magazine,

"... a single NASA space shuttle launch produces 28 tons of carbon dioxide ..."

However, with only two shuttle launches a year, that's not a large number. The operation of the Kennedy Space Center is where the big polution numbers pop up ...

" ... 23 tons of harmful particulate matter settle around the launch area each liftoff, and nearly 13 tons of hydrochloric acid kill fish and plants within half a mile of the site ... the environmental cost per launch is the same as that of New York City over a weekend ..."

"Still, the expected impact of spaceflight pales in comparison with the carbon footprint of a commercial airport. Los Angeles International Airport has carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 19,000 tons a month ... and the 33,000 airplanes that fly in and out of the airport each month emit about 800,000 tons of carbon dioxide."

Source(s):
"Discover" magazine, December 2007 special issue, page 21, "A Spaceport for Tree Huggers".
6 years ago

[DhhD]

6. Looks like a flight in to space along and back down a carbon tube or ladder, could deliver people

and freight back and forth to the Moon by docking and undocking as the Earth and Moon move in their revolutions. A Moon colony is inevitable.