SpaceX reusable launch system development program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:10, 26 July 2024

Revision as of 20:44, 3 August 2024

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[[File:SpaceX Grasshopper rocket midflight.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Grasshopper rocket, in 2013, performing a 325 meter flight followed by a soft propulsive landing in an attempt to develop technologies for a reusable launch vehicle]]

SpaceX used a set of experimental technology-demonstrator, [[suborbital]] [[Reusable launch system|reusable launch vehicles]] (RLV) to begin [[flight testing]] their reusable booster technologies in 2012. Two versions of the prototype reusable test rockets were built—the {{convert|106|ft|adj=on}} tall ''Grasshopper'' (formerly designated as ''Grasshopper v1.0'') and the {{convert|160|ft|adj=on}} tall ''Falcon 9 Reusable Development Vehicle'', or ''F9R Dev1''—formerly known as ''Grasshopper v1.1''<ref name=nsf20140422/>—as well as a [[space capsule|capsule prototype]] for testing propulsive landings of the [[SpaceX Dragon 2|Dragon]] crew and cargo capsule for the Falcon 9—''DragonFly''.<ref name=nsf20140422/> Grasshopper was built in 2011–2012 for low-altitude, low-velocity hover testing that began in September 2012 and concluded in October 2013 after eight test flights.<ref name="faa20110922" /><ref name="satspot20110926" /><ref name=nsf20140422/> The second prototype vehicle design, F9R Dev1, was built on the much larger [[Falcon 9 v1.1]] booster stage which was used to further extend the low-altitude flight testing [[flight envelope|envelope]] on a vehicle that better matched the actual flight hardware. It made five test flights in 2014.<ref name=nsf20140422/><ref name="msnbc20110927">{{cite news |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44692930/ |title=A rocket that lifts off—and lands—on launch pad |work=NBC News |last=Klotz |first=Irene |date=September 27, 2011 |access-date=November 23, 2011 |archive-date=December 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203023523/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44692930/ |url-status=livedead }}</ref><ref name="nsw20121002" /> The low-altitude, low-speed flights of the test vehicle rockets and capsule were conducted at the [[SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility|SpaceX Rocket Test Facility]] in [[McGregor, Texas]]<ref name="faa20110922" /><ref name="satspot20110926" /><ref name=nsf20140422/>

SpaceX indicated in November 2018 that they considered testing a heavily modified Falcon 9 second stage that would look like a "mini-[[SpaceX Starship design history#Big Falcon Rocket|BFR]] Ship" and be used for [[atmospheric reentry]] [[flight testing|testing]] of a number of technologies needed for the [[Starship test flight rocket|full-scale spaceship]], including an ultra-light [[heat shield]] and high-[[Mach number|Mach]] control surfaces,<ref name="sn20181107">