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Falcon 9 prototypes

January 01, 1970

Falcon 9 prototypes were experimental flight test reusable rockets that performed vertical takeoffs and landings.[1] The project was privately funded by SpaceX, with no funds provided by any government until later on.[2] Two prototypes were built, and both were launched from the ground.[3]

Grasshopper in September 2012

The earliest prototype was Grasshopper. It was announced in 2011[4] and began low-altitude, low-velocity hover/landing testing in 2012. Grasshopper was 106 ft (32 m) tall and made eight successful test flights in 2012 and 2013 before being retired. A second prototype of Falcon 9 was the larger and more capable Falcon 9 Reusable Development Vehicle (F9R Dev, also known as F9R Dev1) based on the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle. It was tested at higher altitudes and was capable of much higher velocity but was never tested at high velocity. The F9R Dev1 vehicle was built in 2013–2014 and made its first low-altitude flight test on 17 April 2014; it was lost during a three-engine test at the McGregor test site on 22 August 2014,[5] which ended the low-velocity test program. Further expansion of the flight test envelope for the reusable rocket was moved to descending Falcon 9 boosters that had been used on orbital flight trajectories on commercial orbital flights of the Falcon 9.

The Grasshopper and F9R Dev tests were fundamental to the development of the reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which require vertical landings of the near-empty Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy first-stage booster tanks and engine assemblies. The Grasshopper and the F9R Dev tests led into a series of high-altitude, high-speed controlled-descent tests of post-mission (spent) Falcon 9 booster stages that accompanied the commercial Falcon 9 missions since September 2013. The latter eventually resulted in the first successful booster landing on 21 December 2015.

History edit

 
Grasshopper performing a 325-meter flight followed by a soft propulsive landing in an attempt to develop technologies for a reusable launch vehicle.

Grasshopper first became known publicly in the third quarter of 2011, when space journalists first wrote about it after analyzing space launch regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration.[1]

Shortly thereafter, SpaceX confirmed the existence of the test vehicle development program, and projected it would begin the Grasshopper flight test program in 2012.[4][6]

Releases of public information in 2011 indicated that the subsonic tests would occur in McGregor, Texas in three phases, at maximum flight altitudes of 670 to 11,500 ft (200 to 3,510 m), for durations of 45 to 160 s (0.75 to 2.67 min). At the time, testing was expected to take up to three years and the initial FAA permit allows up to 70 suborbital launches per year.[1][7] A half-acre concrete launch facility was constructed to support the test flight program.[6] In September 2012, SpaceX announced that they have requested FAA approval to increase the altitude of some of the initial test flights.[8] Looking forward to the next year, CEO Musk said in November 2012: "Over the next few months, we'll gradually increase the altitude and speed. ... I do think there probably will be some craters along the way; we'll be very lucky if there are no craters. Vertical landing is an extremely important breakthrough — extreme, rapid reusability."[9]

In May 2013, SpaceX announced that the higher-altitude, higher-velocity part of the Grasshopper flight test program would be done at Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico—and not at the Federal Government's adjacent White Sands Missile Range facility as previously planned[3][10][11][12]—and signed a three-year lease for land and facilities at the recently operational spaceport.[11] SpaceX indicated in May 2013 that they did not yet know how many jobs might move from Texas to New Mexico.[13]

SpaceX began constructing a 30 m × 30 m (98 ft × 98 ft) pad at Spaceport America in May 2013, 7 km (4.3 mi) southwest of the spaceport's main campus, planning to lease the pad for US$6,600 per month plus US$25,000 per test flight.[14]

Description edit

Grasshopper edit

Grasshopper consisted of "a Falcon 9 [v1.0] first-stage tank, a single Merlin-1D engine" with a height of 32 m (106 ft).[1] The landing gear was fixed.

As Elon Musk stated, Grasshopper could land on Earth with the accuracy of a helicopter.[15]

F9R Dev1 edit

F9R Dev1 was constructed out of the used first-stage tank of the Falcon 9 v1.1,[16] so it was 160-foot tall,[17] nearly 50% longer than the first Grasshopper.[18] The landing legs were retractable by design, with a telescoping piston mounted on an A-frame. The total span of the four legs was approximately 18 m (60 ft) and the weight less than 2,100 kg (4,600 lb); the deployment system used high-pressure helium.[19] The legs had less weight than on the first Grasshopper. The F9R Dev1 had a different engine bay than the first Grasshopper vehicle.[18]

The F9R Dev1 vehicle in Texas was intended to take off and accelerate with three engines—as the test flight never needs the full thrust to take off a fully loaded Falcon 9 with an orbital payload—while completing the descent and landing with only one engine.[20] The original Grasshopper had flown exclusively with only a single Merlin 1D engine in place, the center engine which is now used to complete the last phase of the deceleration and vertical landing on full-scale Falcon 9 rockets.

F9R Dev2 (never flown) edit

A third flight test vehicle—F9R Dev2—was initially planned to be flown only at the high-altitude test range at Spaceport America[11][2] and at altitudes of up to 91,000 meters (300,000 ft).[17][21][16] In September 2014, following the destruction of the F9R Dev1, SpaceX changed the plans, so the F9R Dev2 vehicle would fly first in McGregor for low-altitude testing. The initial FAA permit to fly the Falcon 9 Reusable Development Vehicle at McGregor in Texas was open until February 2015.[22]

On 19 February 2015 SpaceX announced that the F9R Dev2 would be discontinued.[23]

During April 2015, SpaceX performed tanking tests on the In-Flight Abort rocket on the Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-4E. Since this rocket only had three Merlin 1D engines, and the New Mexico site was to have been used for testing the returned first stages, it was speculated that the discontinued F9R Dev2 was re-purposed as the launch vehicle in the In-Flight Abort Test.[24]

In May 2015, a press article stated that due to the technical success of many aspects of the booster rocket landing attempts on the sea and on the ASDS, SpaceX was planning on using the New Mexico site for testing the returned stages.[25][26]

Flight testing edit

Grasshopper flight tests edit

The first Falcon 9 prototype, Grasshopper, made a total of eight test flights between September 2012 and October 2013.[27] All eight flights were from the McGregor, Texas test facility.

Grasshopper began flight testing in September 2012 with a brief, three-second hop, followed by a second hop in November 2012 with an 8-second flight that took the testbed approximately 5.4 m (18 ft) off the ground, and a third flight in December 2012 of 29 seconds duration, with extended hover under rocket engine power, in which it ascended to an altitude of 40 m (130 ft) before descending under rocket power to come to a successful vertical landing.[28] Grasshopper made its eighth, and final, test flight on October 7, 2013, flying to an altitude of 744 m (2,441 ft) before making its eighth successful vertical landing.[29] The Grasshopper test vehicle is now retired.[27]

Flight tests at the Texas facility were limited to a maximum altitude of 2,500 ft (760 m) by the initial FAA regulatory permit.[30]

# Date (y-m-d) Highest altitude Duration Video Remarks
1 2012-09-21[10] 1.8 m (6 ft)[10] 3s[10] [31] A "brief hop"[32] with a near-empty tank.
2 2012-11-01[33] 5.4 m (17.7 ft)[33] 8s[33] [34]
3 2012-12-17[35] 40 m (131 ft)[35] 29s[35] [36] First flight to include the cowboy mannequin
4 2013-03-07[37] 80 m (262 ft)[38] 34s[38] [39] Touchdown thrust-to-weight ratio greater than one[40]
5 2013-04-17[41] 250 m (820 ft)[41] 58s [42] Demonstrated ability to maintain stability in wind[43]
6 2013-06-14[44] 325 m (1,070 ft)[44] 68s[45] [46] New navigation sensor suite tested; needed on the F9-R for precision landing[47]
7 2013-08-13[48] 250 m (820 ft)[48] 60s [49] Successfully completed a "divert test" performing 100 m (330 ft) lateral maneuver before returning to the pad.[48]
8 2013-10-07[50] 744 m (2,440 ft)[51] 79s[52] [51] Final flight of Grasshopper. Vehicle retired after the flight.[27]

From the announcement in 2011 until 2014, SpaceX has achieved each of the schedule milestones that they publicly announced. SpaceX said in February 2012 that they were planning several vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) test flights during 2012,[3] and confirmed in June 2012 that they continued to plan to make the first test flight within the next couple of months.[6]

F9R Dev1 flight tests edit

The Falcon 9 Reusable Development Vehicle, or F9R Dev, was announced in October 2012. F9R Dev1 was initially named, since late 2012 until early 2014, as Grasshopper v1.1.[17][29] In March 2013 Musk said that SpaceX hoped to reach hypersonic speed before the end of 2013.[53] In March 2013, it was announced that the second Grasshopper-class suborbital flight vehicle would be constructed out of the Falcon 9 v1.1 first-stage tank that had been used for qualification testing in Texas at the SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility prior to March.[16]

In 2014, the FAA permit was increased to 10,000 ft (3,000 m) for the F9R Dev testing at McGregor,[21] when the first Grasshopper was limited to an altitude of 2,500 ft (760 m).

The F9R Dev1 was built on the much longer Falcon 9 v1.1 first stage tanks, and with retractable landing legs.

SpaceX performed a short-duration ground test (static test) of F9R Dev1 on March 28, 2014, at their McGregor, Texas test site,[54] and made their maiden test flight of the new vehicle, to an altitude of 250 meters (820 ft), on April 17, 2014.[21][20] The F9R Dev1 flew for the fifth and last time on August 22, 2014.[17][55] During this flight, anomalous sensor data from the vehicle during its ascent caused the rocket to deviate from nominal flight trajectory, prompting its flight termination system to end the mission by neutralizing the vehicle. No injuries or near-injuries were reported following the breakup of F9R Dev1 and an FAA representative was present during the test. Video from the accident was released by CBS and multiple images from the accident were posted on social media.[5][56]

Test # Date (year-month-day) Test vehicle Location Highest altitude Video Remarks
1 2014-04-17[17] F9R Dev1 McGregor 250 m (820 ft)[17] [57] Hovered, moved sideways, landed successfully.[20]
2 2014-05-01[58] F9R Dev1 McGregor 1,000 m (3,280 ft)[59] [59] Hovered, moved sideways, landed.[58]
3 2014-06-17 F9R Dev1 McGregor 1,000 m (3,280 ft)[60] [60] First test flight with steerable grid fins.[60]
4 2014-08-01[61] F9R Dev1 McGregor No public information was provided by SpaceX about this flight.[62]
5 2014-08-22[61] F9R Dev1 McGregor [63][64] Vehicle was destroyed following a flight anomaly that began to take F9R Dev1 off of its planned flight path. No injuries.[55][65] A blocked sensor was the cause of the anomaly. The sensor had no backup in the prototype F9R Dev vehicle but flight-rated Falcon 9 rockets do have a redundant backup.[66] First activation of an autonomous flight termination system on a US rocket.[67]

Falcon 9 post-mission landing tests edit

 
Falcon 9 first stage attempts landing on ASDS after second stage with CRS-6 continued onto orbit. Landing legs are in the midst of deploying.
Main article: Falcon 9 first-stage landing tests

In 2013, SpaceX moved to using their mainstream Falcon 9 vehicles for VTVL testing, in addition to their existing tests with flying test vehicles. In March 2013, SpaceX announced that, beginning with the first flight of the stretch version of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle—the sixth flight overall of Falcon 9 (then anticipated for summer 2013), every first stage would be instrumented and equipped as a controlled descent test vehicle.[68] SpaceX attempted numerous over-water landings, both over the sea, resulting in soft landings into the water, and onto specialized Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships, barges modified to be landing platforms. None were completely successful.

SpaceX eventually succeeded in landing a production vertical-landing rocket on land in late 2015. The first attempt to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 on land, near its launch site, occurred on Falcon 9 Flight 20, on 21 December 2015. The landing was successful, and the first stage of the Falcon 9 Full Thrust vehicle was recovered.[69][70][71] By May 27, 2016, SpaceX had successfully completed three first-stage landings on a drone ship at sea.[72]

See also edit

References edit

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External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Grasshopper (rocket).
 
Wikinews has related news:
  • SpaceX test rocket crashes in Texas
  • Collected videos
    • Video of 1st test launch, 21 September 2012
    • Video of 2nd test launch, 1 November 2012
    • Video of 3rd test launch H=40m, 17 December 2012
    • Video of 4th test launch H=80m, 8 March 2013
    • Video of 5th test launch H=250m, 17 April 2013
    • Video of 6th test launch H=325m, 14 June 2013
    • Video of 7th test launch H=250m L=100m, 13 August 2013
    • Video of 8th test launch H=744m, 7 October 2013. Final Grasshopper test flight.
    • Video of 9th test launch H=250m, 17 April 2014. First F9R Dev1 test flight.
    • Video of 10th test launch H=1000m, 1 May 2014
    • Video of 13th test launch, 22 August 2014. Final flight of F9R Dev1 as vehicle was destroyed after an anomaly occurred during the test flight.
    • Steve Jurvetson personal comments on the destruction of F9R Dev1, 23 September 2014, SPARK 2014 Keynote address, @58:05. Jurvetson is a SpaceX board member and was present for the flight test on 22 August 2014.

January 01, 1970
falcon, prototypes, were, experimental, flight, test, reusable, rockets, that, performed, vertical, takeoffs, landings, project, privately, funded, spacex, with, funds, provided, government, until, later, prototypes, were, built, both, were, launched, from, gr. Falcon 9 prototypes were experimental flight test reusable rockets that performed vertical takeoffs and landings 1 The project was privately funded by SpaceX with no funds provided by any government until later on 2 Two prototypes were built and both were launched from the ground 3 Grasshopper in September 2012 The earliest prototype was Grasshopper It was announced in 2011 4 and began low altitude low velocity hover landing testing in 2012 Grasshopper was 106 ft 32 m tall and made eight successful test flights in 2012 and 2013 before being retired A second prototype of Falcon 9 was the larger and more capable Falcon 9 Reusable Development Vehicle F9R Dev also known as F9R Dev1 based on the Falcon 9 v1 1 launch vehicle It was tested at higher altitudes and was capable of much higher velocity but was never tested at high velocity The F9R Dev1 vehicle was built in 2013 2014 and made its first low altitude flight test on 17 April 2014 it was lost during a three engine test at the McGregor test site on 22 August 2014 5 which ended the low velocity test program Further expansion of the flight test envelope for the reusable rocket was moved to descending Falcon 9 boosters that had been used on orbital flight trajectories on commercial orbital flights of the Falcon 9 The Grasshopper and F9R Dev tests were fundamental to the development of the reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets which require vertical landings of the near empty Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy first stage booster tanks and engine assemblies The Grasshopper and the F9R Dev tests led into a series of high altitude high speed controlled descent tests of post mission spent Falcon 9 booster stages that accompanied the commercial Falcon 9 missions since September 2013 The latter eventually resulted in the first successful booster landing on 21 December 2015 Contents 1 History 2 Description 2 1 Grasshopper 2 2 F9R Dev1 2 3 F9R Dev2 never flown 3 Flight testing 3 1 Grasshopper flight tests 3 2 F9R Dev1 flight tests 4 Falcon 9 post mission landing tests 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksHistory edit nbsp Grasshopper performing a 325 meter flight followed by a soft propulsive landing in an attempt to develop technologies for a reusable launch vehicle Grasshopper first became known publicly in the third quarter of 2011 when space journalists first wrote about it after analyzing space launch regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration 1 Shortly thereafter SpaceX confirmed the existence of the test vehicle development program and projected it would begin the Grasshopper flight test program in 2012 4 6 Releases of public information in 2011 indicated that the subsonic tests would occur in McGregor Texas in three phases at maximum flight altitudes of 670 to 11 500 ft 200 to 3 510 m for durations of 45 to 160 s 0 75 to 2 67 min At the time testing was expected to take up to three years and the initial FAA permit allows up to 70 suborbital launches per year 1 7 A half acre concrete launch facility was constructed to support the test flight program 6 In September 2012 SpaceX announced that they have requested FAA approval to increase the altitude of some of the initial test flights 8 Looking forward to the next year CEO Musk said in November 2012 Over the next few months we ll gradually increase the altitude and speed I do think there probably will be some craters along the way we ll be very lucky if there are no craters Vertical landing is an extremely important breakthrough extreme rapid reusability 9 In May 2013 SpaceX announced that the higher altitude higher velocity part of the Grasshopper flight test program would be done at Spaceport America near Las Cruces New Mexico and not at the Federal Government s adjacent White Sands Missile Range facility as previously planned 3 10 11 12 and signed a three year lease for land and facilities at the recently operational spaceport 11 SpaceX indicated in May 2013 that they did not yet know how many jobs might move from Texas to New Mexico 13 SpaceX began constructing a 30 m 30 m 98 ft 98 ft pad at Spaceport America in May 2013 7 km 4 3 mi southwest of the spaceport s main campus planning to lease the pad for US 6 600 per month plus US 25 000 per test flight 14 Description editGrasshopper edit Grasshopper consisted of a Falcon 9 v1 0 first stage tank a single Merlin 1D engine with a height of 32 m 106 ft 1 The landing gear was fixed As Elon Musk stated Grasshopper could land on Earth with the accuracy of a helicopter 15 F9R Dev1 edit F9R Dev1 was constructed out of the used first stage tank of the Falcon 9 v1 1 16 so it was 160 foot tall 17 nearly 50 longer than the first Grasshopper 18 The landing legs were retractable by design with a telescoping piston mounted on an A frame The total span of the four legs was approximately 18 m 60 ft and the weight less than 2 100 kg 4 600 lb the deployment system used high pressure helium 19 The legs had less weight than on the first Grasshopper The F9R Dev1 had a different engine bay than the first Grasshopper vehicle 18 The F9R Dev1 vehicle in Texas was intended to take off and accelerate with three engines as the test flight never needs the full thrust to take off a fully loaded Falcon 9 with an orbital payload while completing the descent and landing with only one engine 20 The original Grasshopper had flown exclusively with only a single Merlin 1D engine in place the center engine which is now used to complete the last phase of the deceleration and vertical landing on full scale Falcon 9 rockets F9R Dev2 never flown edit A third flight test vehicle F9R Dev2 was initially planned to be flown only at the high altitude test range at Spaceport America 11 2 and at altitudes of up to 91 000 meters 300 000 ft 17 21 16 In September 2014 following the destruction of the F9R Dev1 SpaceX changed the plans so the F9R Dev2 vehicle would fly first in McGregor for low altitude testing The initial FAA permit to fly the Falcon 9 Reusable Development Vehicle at McGregor in Texas was open until February 2015 22 On 19 February 2015 SpaceX announced that the F9R Dev2 would be discontinued 23 During April 2015 SpaceX performed tanking tests on the In Flight Abort rocket on the Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC 4E Since this rocket only had three Merlin 1D engines and the New Mexico site was to have been used for testing the returned first stages it was speculated that the discontinued F9R Dev2 was re purposed as the launch vehicle in the In Flight Abort Test 24 In May 2015 a press article stated that due to the technical success of many aspects of the booster rocket landing attempts on the sea and on the ASDS SpaceX was planning on using the New Mexico site for testing the returned stages 25 26 Flight testing editGrasshopper flight tests edit The first Falcon 9 prototype Grasshopper made a total of eight test flights between September 2012 and October 2013 27 All eight flights were from the McGregor Texas test facility Grasshopper began flight testing in September 2012 with a brief three second hop followed by a second hop in November 2012 with an 8 second flight that took the testbed approximately 5 4 m 18 ft off the ground and a third flight in December 2012 of 29 seconds duration with extended hover under rocket engine power in which it ascended to an altitude of 40 m 130 ft before descending under rocket power to come to a successful vertical landing 28 Grasshopper made its eighth and final test flight on October 7 2013 flying to an altitude of 744 m 2 441 ft before making its eighth successful vertical landing 29 The Grasshopper test vehicle is now retired 27 Flight tests at the Texas facility were limited to a maximum altitude of 2 500 ft 760 m by the initial FAA regulatory permit 30 Date y m d Highest altitude Duration Video Remarks 1 2012 09 21 10 1 8 m 6 ft 10 3s 10 31 A brief hop 32 with a near empty tank 2 2012 11 01 33 5 4 m 17 7 ft 33 8s 33 34 3 2012 12 17 35 40 m 131 ft 35 29s 35 36 First flight to include the cowboy mannequin 4 2013 03 07 37 80 m 262 ft 38 34s 38 39 Touchdown thrust to weight ratio greater than one 40 5 2013 04 17 41 250 m 820 ft 41 58s 42 Demonstrated ability to maintain stability in wind 43 6 2013 06 14 44 325 m 1 070 ft 44 68s 45 46 New navigation sensor suite tested needed on the F9 R for precision landing 47 7 2013 08 13 48 250 m 820 ft 48 60s 49 Successfully completed a divert test performing 100 m 330 ft lateral maneuver before returning to the pad 48 8 2013 10 07 50 744 m 2 440 ft 51 79s 52 51 Final flight of Grasshopper Vehicle retired after the flight 27 From the announcement in 2011 until 2014 SpaceX has achieved each of the schedule milestones that they publicly announced SpaceX said in February 2012 that they were planning several vertical takeoff vertical landing VTVL test flights during 2012 3 and confirmed in June 2012 that they continued to plan to make the first test flight within the next couple of months 6 F9R Dev1 flight tests edit The Falcon 9 Reusable Development Vehicle or F9R Dev was announced in October 2012 F9R Dev1 was initially named since late 2012 until early 2014 as Grasshopper v1 1 17 29 In March 2013 Musk said that SpaceX hoped to reach hypersonic speed before the end of 2013 53 In March 2013 it was announced that the second Grasshopper class suborbital flight vehicle would be constructed out of the Falcon 9 v1 1 first stage tank that had been used for qualification testing in Texas at the SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility prior to March 16 In 2014 the FAA permit was increased to 10 000 ft 3 000 m for the F9R Dev testing at McGregor 21 when the first Grasshopper was limited to an altitude of 2 500 ft 760 m The F9R Dev1 was built on the much longer Falcon 9 v1 1 first stage tanks and with retractable landing legs SpaceX performed a short duration ground test static test of F9R Dev1 on March 28 2014 at their McGregor Texas test site 54 and made their maiden test flight of the new vehicle to an altitude of 250 meters 820 ft on April 17 2014 21 20 The F9R Dev1 flew for the fifth and last time on August 22 2014 17 55 During this flight anomalous sensor data from the vehicle during its ascent caused the rocket to deviate from nominal flight trajectory prompting its flight termination system to end the mission by neutralizing the vehicle No injuries or near injuries were reported following the breakup of F9R Dev1 and an FAA representative was present during the test Video from the accident was released by CBS and multiple images from the accident were posted on social media 5 56 Test Date year month day Test vehicle Location Highest altitude Video Remarks 1 2014 04 17 17 F9R Dev1 McGregor 250 m 820 ft 17 57 Hovered moved sideways landed successfully 20 2 2014 05 01 58 F9R Dev1 McGregor 1 000 m 3 280 ft 59 59 Hovered moved sideways landed 58 3 2014 06 17 F9R Dev1 McGregor 1 000 m 3 280 ft 60 60 First test flight with steerable grid fins 60 4 2014 08 01 61 F9R Dev1 McGregor No public information was provided by SpaceX about this flight 62 5 2014 08 22 61 F9R Dev1 McGregor 63 64 Vehicle was destroyed following a flight anomaly that began to take F9R Dev1 off of its planned flight path No injuries 55 65 A blocked sensor was the cause of the anomaly The sensor had no backup in the prototype F9R Dev vehicle but flight rated Falcon 9 rockets do have a redundant backup 66 First activation of an autonomous flight termination system on a US rocket 67 Falcon 9 post mission landing tests edit nbsp Falcon 9 first stage attempts landing on ASDS after second stage with CRS 6 continued onto orbit Landing legs are in the midst of deploying Main article Falcon 9 first stage landing tests In 2013 SpaceX moved to using their mainstream Falcon 9 vehicles for VTVL testing in addition to their existing tests with flying test vehicles In March 2013 SpaceX announced that beginning with the first flight of the stretch version of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle the sixth flight overall of Falcon 9 then anticipated for summer 2013 every first stage would be instrumented and equipped as a controlled descent test vehicle 68 SpaceX attempted numerous over water landings both over the sea resulting in soft landings into the water and onto specialized Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships barges modified to be landing platforms None were completely successful SpaceX eventually succeeded in landing a production vertical landing rocket on land in late 2015 The first attempt to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 on land near its launch site occurred on Falcon 9 Flight 20 on 21 December 2015 The landing was successful and the first stage of the Falcon 9 Full Thrust vehicle was recovered 69 70 71 By May 27 2016 SpaceX had successfully completed three first stage landings on a drone ship at sea 72 See also edit nbsp Spaceflight portal SpaceX launch vehicles Launch vehicles developed and operated by SpaceX List of Falcon 9 first stage boosters Kankoh maru Japanese orbital vehicle design McDonnell Douglas DC X Prototype single stage to orbit rocket developed amp flown between 1991 1996 New Shepard Rocket developed by Blue Origin Quad rocket VTVL technology demonstrator Reusable Vehicle Testing Japanese reusable rocket testing project SpaceX reusable launch system development program Effort by SpaceX to make rockets that can fly multiple timesReferences edit a b c d Mohney Doug 2011 09 26 SpaceX Plans to Test Reusable Suborbital VTVL Rocket in Texas Satellite Spotlight Archived from the original on 2016 08 04 Retrieved 2012 12 30 a b Shotwell Gwynne June 4 2014 Discussion with Gwynne Shotwell President and COO SpaceX Atlantic Council Event occurs at 22 35 26 20 Archived from the original on January 25 2017 Retrieved June 9 2014 This technology element reusable launch vehicle technology all this innovation is being done by SpaceX alone no one is paying us to do it The government is very interested in the data we are collecting on this test series This is the kind of thing that entrepreneurial investment and new entrants innovators can do for an industry fund their own improvements both in the quality of their programs and the quality of their hardware and the speed and cadence of their operations a b c Simberg Rand 2012 02 08 Elon Musk on SpaceX s Reusable Rocket Plans Popular Mechanics Archived from the original on 2012 02 11 Retrieved 2012 02 07 a b Lindsey Clark 2011 10 12 Grasshopper news RLV and Space Transport News Archived from the original on 2011 11 18 Retrieved 2011 11 23 a b Musk Elon elonmusk August 23 2014 Three engine F9R Dev1 vehicle auto terminated during test flight No injuries or near injuries Rockets are tricky Tweet Archived from the original on 28 March 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via Twitter a b c Reusable rocket prototype almost ready for first liftoff Spaceflight Now 2012 07 09 Archived from the original on 2016 11 16 Retrieved 2012 07 13 SpaceX has constructed a half acre concrete launch facility in McGregor and the Grasshopper rocket is already standing on the pad outfitted with four insect like silver landing legs Draft Environmental Assessment for Issuing an Experimental Permit to SpaceX for Operation of the Grasshopper Vehicle at the McGregor Test Site Texas PDF Federal Aviation Administration 2011 Archived PDF from the original on 2013 01 12 Retrieved 2011 11 24 Lindsey Clark 2012 09 17 SpaceX Grasshopper tests aim to quickly move up in altitude NewSpace Watch Archived from the original on 2014 09 28 Retrieved 2012 09 17 Coppinger Rod 2012 11 23 Huge Mars Colony Eyed by SpaceX Founder Elon Musk Space com Archived from the original on 2013 06 28 Retrieved 2012 11 25 a b c d Clark Stephen 2012 09 24 SpaceX s reusable rocket testbed takes first hop Spaceflightnow Archived from the original on 2012 09 27 Retrieved 2012 09 25 a b c Lindsey Clark 2013 05 07 SpaceX to test Grasshopper reusable booster at Spaceport America in NM NewSpace Watch Archived from the original on 2015 01 18 Retrieved 2013 05 07 Reusable rocket prototype almost ready for first liftoff Spaceflightnow com 2012 Archived from the original on 2016 11 16 Retrieved 2012 05 12 Abbot Joseph 2013 05 07 SpaceX moving Grasshopper testing to New Mexico Waco Tribune Archived from the original on 2017 12 31 Retrieved 2013 05 08 Leone Dan 2013 05 13 SpaceX Leases Pad in New Mexico for Next Grasshopper Tests SpaceNews Archived from the original on September 3 2013 Retrieved 2013 08 03 Musk s Space Talk Wows Crowd at South by Southwest Moon and Back 2013 03 11 Archived from the original on 2013 03 13 Retrieved 2013 03 11 a b c Spacex May try to land or recover the first stage of it next Falcon 9 v1 1 launch this summer Next Big Future 2013 03 23 Archived from the original on 2013 03 27 Retrieved 2013 04 06 a b c d e f Bergin Chris 2014 04 22 Rockets that return home SpaceX pushing the boundaries NASAspaceflight com Archived from the original on 2014 04 25 Retrieved 2014 04 23 a b A 2nd gen Grasshopper A new video of first hop NewSpace Watch 2012 10 02 Retrieved 2012 11 04 dead link Lindsey Clark 2013 05 02 SpaceX shows a leg for the F niner Archived from the original on 2013 05 25 Retrieved 2013 05 02 F9R pronounced F niner shows a little leg Design is a nested telescoping piston w A frame High pressure helium Needs to be ultra light a b c Abbott Joseph 2014 04 17 Grasshopper s successor flies at SpaceX s McGregor site Waco Tribune Retrieved 2014 04 18 a b c Norris Guy 2014 04 28 SpaceX Plans For Multiple Reusable Booster Tests Controlled water landing marks a major stride toward SpaceX s Falcon rapid reusability goal Aviation Week Archived from the original on 2014 04 26 Retrieved 2014 04 26 The April 17 F9R Dev 1 flight which lasted under 1 min was the first vertical landing test of a production representative recoverable Falcon 9 v1 1 first stage while the April 18 cargo flight to the ISS was the first opportunity for SpaceX to evaluate the design of foldable landing legs and upgraded thrusters that control the stage during its initial descent Commercial Space Data Active Permits FAA Data amp Research U S Federal Aviation Administration Archived from the original on May 2 2014 Retrieved 2014 04 23 Permit no EP 14 010 Company Space Exploration Technologies Corporation Vehicle Falcon 9 R Location Texas Expiration Feb 26 2015 Klotz Irene 19 February 2015 SpaceX bypassing replacement for lost Falcon 9R landing test vehicle Portal to the Universe Archived from the original on 14 March 2018 Retrieved 13 March 2018 via SEN Bergin Chris 2015 04 10 SpaceX conducts tanking test on In Flight Abort Falcon 9 nasaspaceflight com Archived from the original on 2015 05 04 Retrieved 2015 05 10 Bergin Chris 2015 03 19 Spaceport America set for SpaceX reusability testing nasaspaceflight com Archived from the original on 2015 05 13 Retrieved 2015 05 12 Abbott Joseph 2014 09 12 SpaceX updates Launch moved to Sept 20 new test rocket may arrive in 2 months Waco Tribune Archived from the original on 2018 12 31 Retrieved 2014 09 13 a b c Klotz Irene 2013 10 17 SpaceX Retires Grasshopper New Test Rig To Fly in December Space News Archived from the original on October 21 2013 Retrieved 2013 10 21 Boyle Alan 2012 12 24 SpaceX launches its Grasshopper rocket on 12 story high hop in Texas MSNBC Cosmic Log Archived from the original on 2016 03 03 Retrieved 2012 12 30 a b Grasshopper flies to its highest height to date Social media information release SpaceX 12 October 2013 Archived from the original on 17 January 2016 Retrieved 14 October 2013 WATCH Grasshopper flies to its highest height to date 744 m 2441 ft into the Texas sky http youtu be 9ZDkItO 0a4 This was the last scheduled test for the Grasshopper rig next up will be low altitude tests of the Falcon 9 Reusable F9R development vehicle in Texas followed by high altitude testing in New Mexico Abbott Joseph 2013 05 08 SpaceX s Grasshopper leaping to NM spaceport Waco Tribune Archived from the original on 2017 08 24 Retrieved 2013 10 25 Grasshopper Takes Its First Hop 9 21 12 SpaceX 24 September 2012 Archived from the original on 14 November 2022 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube Lindsey Clark 2012 09 22 SpaceX Grasshopper vertical takeoff vertical landing rocket first test NewSpace Watch Archived from the original on 2020 06 10 Retrieved 2012 09 23 a b c Grasshopper Two Story Hop 11 1 12 SpaceX 5 November 2012 Archived from the original on 13 January 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube Grasshopper Two Story Hop 11 1 12 SpaceX 5 November 2012 Archived from the original on 13 January 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube a b c Grasshopper hops ever higher NewSpace Journal 24 December 2012 Archived from the original on 1 June 2013 Retrieved 25 December 2012 Single Camera Grasshopper 12 Story Test Flight 12 17 12 SpaceX 24 December 2012 Archived from the original on 15 January 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube FAA Permitted Launches Federal Aviation Administration 8 March 2013 Archived from the original on 6 March 2013 Retrieved 9 March 2013 a b More on Grasshopper s Johnny Cash hover slam test NewSpace Journal 9 March 2013 Archived from the original on 15 May 2013 Retrieved 9 March 2013 Grasshopper 24 Story Hover Slam 3 7 13 Single Angle SpaceX 12 March 2013 Archived from the original on 22 March 2021 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube GRASSHOPPER COMPLETES HIGHEST LEAP TO DATE 10 March 2013 Archived from the original on 29 April 2013 Retrieved 25 April 2013 a b Lindsey Clark 2013 04 13 SpaceX Grasshopper reaches 250 meters NewSpace Watch Archived from the original on 2013 04 29 Retrieved 2013 04 23 Grasshopper 250m Test Single Camera Hexacopter SpaceX 23 April 2013 Archived from the original on 8 April 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube Musk Elon elonmusk April 23 2013 Grasshopper rocket flies up 250m holds against wind and lands Vid taken from our hexacopter http t co LXmMCYDD0e Tweet Archived from the original on 26 January 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via Twitter a b Bergin Chris 14 June 2013 Testing times for SpaceX s new Falcon 9 v 1 1 NASASpaceFlight not affiliated with NASA Archived from the original on 20 July 2013 Retrieved 15 June 2013 Bergin Chris 20 June 2013 Reducing risk via ground testing is a recipe for SpaceX success NASASpaceFlight not affiliated with NASA Archived from the original on 18 January 2017 Retrieved 21 June 2013 Grasshopper 325m Test Single Camera Hexacopter SpaceX 6 July 2013 Archived from the original on 10 February 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube VIDEO Grasshopper 325 meter Test SpaceNews com 8 July 2013 Retrieved 5 December 2022 a b c Boyle Alan 2013 08 14 SpaceX s Grasshopper test rocket flies sideways successfully NBC News Archived from the original on 2013 08 17 Retrieved 2013 08 15 Grasshopper Divert Single Cam Grasshopper vs Cows SpaceX 8 September 2013 Archived from the original on 7 February 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube Kelly Mackenzie mkelly007 October 7 2013 A friend in Mcgregor Texas sent me this photo of a Space X rocket launch that happened earlier today spaceX http t co B5zX6JIIAh Tweet Archived from the original on 7 January 2022 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via Twitter a b Grasshopper 744m Test Single Camera Hexacopter SpaceX 12 October 2013 Archived from the original on 14 March 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube Post Hannah 16 October 2013 Grasshopper Completes Half Mile Flight in Last Test Spacex com Archived from the original on 9 October 2018 Retrieved 9 October 2018 Lindsey Clark 2013 03 09 Elon Musk debuted video of latest Grasshopper flight at SXSW NewSpace Watch Archived from the original on 2020 06 10 Retrieved 2013 03 14 Malik Tariq 2014 04 14 SpaceX to Attempt Daring Reusable Rocket Test During Dragon Launch Today SpaceNews Archived from the original on 2014 04 14 Retrieved 2014 04 15 a b Foust Jeff 2014 08 23 Falcon 9 test vehicle destroyed in accident NewSpace Journal Archived from the original on 2014 08 25 Retrieved 2014 08 23 Stephen Clark 2014 08 22 SpaceX rocket prototype explodes in test flight Spaceflight Now Archived from the original on 2014 08 25 Retrieved 2014 08 23 F9R First Flight Test 250m SpaceX 18 April 2014 Archived from the original on 5 February 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube a b Abbott Joseph 2014 05 01 SpaceX s Grasshopper successor flies again Waco Tribune Archived from the original on 2018 10 10 Retrieved 2014 05 02 a b F9R Flight Test 1 000m SpaceX 2 May 2014 Archived from the original on 9 January 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube a b c F9R 1000m Fin Flight Onboard Cam and Wide Shot SpaceX 19 June 2014 Archived from the original on 13 January 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube a b Commercial Space Data Launches Federal Aviation Administration Archived from the original on 2014 08 10 Retrieved 2014 08 02 Dates of Grasshopper launches SpaceX F9R Development Updates Spaceflight101 Archived from the original on 10 October 2018 Retrieved 9 October 2018 SpaceX F9R Auto termination explosion during test flight Gunrun 23 August 2014 Archived from the original on 5 April 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via YouTube How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster retrieved 2023 05 07 Harwood William August 22 2014 SpaceX rocket explodes during test flight in Texas CBS News Archived from the original on October 10 2014 Retrieved September 28 2014 Dean James 2014 08 03 SpaceX targeting Saturday launch from Cape Florida Today Retrieved 2014 08 03 Bergin Chris 2014 08 26 SpaceX makes late call to delay ASIASAT 6 launch NASASpaceFlight com Retrieved 2023 05 07 Lindsey Clark 2013 03 28 SpaceX moving quickly towards fly back first stage NewSpace Watch Archived from the original on 2013 04 16 Retrieved 2013 03 29 SpaceX SpaceX December 22 2015 The Falcon 9 first stage landing is confirmed Second stage continuing nominally https t co RX2QKSl0z7 Tweet Archived from the original on 26 March 2023 Retrieved 17 April 2023 via Twitter Wow SpaceX Lands Orbital Rocket Successfully in Historic First Space com 22 December 2015 Archived from the original on 28 November 2018 Retrieved 9 October 2018 de Selding Peter B 2015 10 16 SpaceX Changes its Falcon 9 Return to flight Plans SpaceNews Archived from the original on 16 October 2015 Retrieved 8 November 2015 Kramer Miriam 27 May 2016 SpaceX does it again Company lands third rocket on drone ship in the ocean Mashable Archived from the original on 11 June 2016 Retrieved 10 June 2016 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Grasshopper rocket nbsp Wikinews has related news SpaceX test rocket crashes in Texas Collected videos Video of 1st test launch 21 September 2012 Video of 2nd test launch 1 November 2012 Video of 3rd test launch H 40m 17 December 2012 Video of 4th test launch H 80m 8 March 2013 Video of 5th test launch H 250m 17 April 2013 Video of 6th test launch H 325m 14 June 2013 Video of 7th test launch H 250m L 100m 13 August 2013 Video of 8th test launch H 744m 7 October 2013 Final Grasshopper test flight Video of 9th test launch H 250m 17 April 2014 First F9R Dev1 test flight Video of 10th test launch H 1000m 1 May 2014 Video of 13th test launch 22 August 2014 Final flight of F9R Dev1 as vehicle was destroyed after an anomaly occurred during the test flight Steve Jurvetson personal comments on the destruction of F9R Dev1 23 September 2014 SPARK 2014 Keynote address 58 05 Jurvetson is a SpaceX board member and was present for the flight test on 22 August 2014 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Falcon 9 prototypes amp oldid 1168758570, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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