SpaceX flyback VTVL (almost ready for tests)

[Dr Mordrid]

VTVL = Vertical Takeoff - Vertical Landing

As God and Robert A. Heinlein intended, SpaceX's g'hopper project involves a totally reusable Falcon 9 whose stages fly back to the launch site and land as they did in our favorite space stories - ON THEIR TAILS.

Not many details as Elon just finished the announcement at the National Press Club, but here's the imagery and an extremely cool new video showing how they plan on recovering & re-using both the first and second stages..

GAWD........

"Hundred-fold reduction in F9 costs! (capital costs ~$30,000 per flight)"

"Dragon as a general-purpose science delivery vehicle for the entire solar system."

HD Quicktime video (34 megs)_....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p176UpWQOs4

F9 landing


Closeup


Dragon landing

[Evildead666]

US, World Govt's should be throwing truckloads of money at these people, a bit at a time so they don't get all prissy and give themselves huge paychecks.

But damn good job there.
Bring it ON !!!!!

[Dr Mordrid]

They aren't even pausing to take a breath.

First test flight of the Grass-hopper is now set for Q1 of 2012. FAA is already on board and construction of the new pad in McGregor, Texas is getting underway. Avionics code for VTVL must be well along and CAD drawings made and possibly sent out to CNC.

[Dr Mordrid]

Tweet from Elon today -

@elonmusk Elon Musk

Design completed for bringing rocket back to launchpad using only thrusters. Yay. Wings r just dead weight in space.

Which indicates the landing will be done using a cluster of SuperDraco thrusters from the crew Dragon, not the main engines.

[Dr Mordrid]

Gr****opper is now a "Mega-Thrust" rocket?!? WTF? New engine to go mega-fhrust?

@Elon Musk ‏ @elonmusk

Landing gear of the mega thrust propulsive landing rocket done (next gen Falcon). First hops soon
>
Making large scale rocket propulsion landing work well is a critical step towards a fully reusable Mars transport system...
>
...which is the critical breakthrough needed for life to become multiplanetary.

[Dr Mordrid]

Elon Musk tweeted that the Gra**hopper will start test "hops" (flights) "son" and posted this pic (gamma adjustment is mine) of the technology testbed, which also shows Dragon in orbit - the arc in the sky to the right.

[Dr Mordrid]

Almost ready to go!

Link....

Reusable rocket prototype almost ready for first liftoff

SpaceX's Gr****opper testbed for a reusable rocket booster could fly soon from the company's Texas test facility on a short hop designed to demonstrate its ability to take off and land under thrust on a launch pad.

The Gr****opper test vehicle stands 106 feet tall, and its initial flights will reach 240 feet and last about 45 seconds to check the design of the rocket's landing system.

SpaceX technicians added four steel landing legs and a support structure to a qualified Falcon 9 rocket first stage. The Gr****opper program is the first step in achieving SpaceX's goal of developing a reusable booster, which would require the rocket's first stage to fly back to a landing pad at or near the launch site.

SpaceX's concept calls for the first stage to descend and land vertically, using rocket thrust to settle to a soft touchdown.

Speaking in June at the company's test facility in McGregor, Texas, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said the Gr****opper program was on the verge of its first flight.

"We're hoping to do short hops at some point in the next couple of months, and then in terms of higher flights, I'm hopefully we can go supersonic before the end of the year," Musk said. "That's not a prediction. That's an aspiration."

SpaceX has constructed a half-acre concrete launch facility in McGregor, and the Gr****opper rocket is already standing on the pad, outfitted with four insect-like silver landing legs.

The Gr****opper's test flights will be powered by a single Merlin 1D engine, burning kerosene and liquid oxygen to generate a maximum thrust of 122,000 pounds.

Subsequent flights will climb higher and travel faster than the first launch, reaching up to 11,500 feet and lasting approximately 160 seconds, according to a draft environmental assessment document released by the Federal Aviation Administration in September 2011.

SpaceX has not disclosed other details on the Gr****opper launch plans, but Musk said some high-altitude tests may be staged from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

The company has not said when a vertical landing attempt could be made on a real space launch, but Musk believes offering a viable reusable rocket, coupled with simple operations and quick turnaround, will bring on drastic reductions in launch prices.

"If one can figure out how to effectively reuse the rockets just like an airplane, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred," Musk said. "A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. That really is the fundamental breakthrough that is needed to revolutionize access to space."