Categories: Commercial SpaceSpace Exploration TechnologiesSpaceX

Hexacopter Drone Watches SpaceX Grasshopper Take Highest Flight Yet

Image of the Grasshopper's 325 meter hop on Jun 23, 2013. Credit: SpaceX.

This is an absolutely awesome view of the latest test flight of the SpaceX Grasshopper. The footage is shot with a camera attached to a hexacopter drone, and provides the closest view yet during a Grasshopper test of the operating rocket stage. During this test, Grasshopper flew to 744 meters (2,440 feet).

Grasshopper is a 10-story Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle that SpaceX has designed to test the technologies needed to return a rocket back to Earth intact. It 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.

While most rockets are designed to burn up in the atmosphere during reentry, SpaceX’s rockets are being designed to return to the launch pad for a vertical landing. “The Grasshopper VTVL vehicle represents a critical step towards this goal,” says SpaceX.

Sit back and enjoy the ride!

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/