The Grasshopper peaked at 325 m (1066 feet), higher than most skyscrapers

Jul 6, 2013 12:01 GMT  ·  By

While SpaceX may be doing great with the Dragon and its ISS resupply missions, it's also working on its next-generation space vehicles. Dragon 2 is in the planning stages, so is a new rocket. But the new most interesting project has to be the Grasshopper.

The vertical takeoff vertical landing (VTVL) rocket is designed, obviously, to take off and land back on Earth on its own power.

A reusable rocket like the Grasshopper would greatly reduce the costs of putting something into space, but building one is quite complicated. Designs for rockets like these have been around for decades, but none has actually been used outside of testing.

SpaceX has been experimenting with its new rocket design for a while. In the latest flight, the Grasshopper flew to an altitude of 325 m (1066 feet), the highest to date. The previous highest flight took place in April. The Grasshopper reached 250 meters (820 feet) then.

"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," SpaceX explained.

"[For this test] 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," it added.