On Oct. 7, Grasshopper, a 10-story Vertical Takeoff Vertical landing (VTVL) vehicle, completed its highest leap to date, rising to 744m altitude.
And, above all, the weird maneuver was recorded from a single camera remote controlled hexacopter.
Grasshopper VTVL vehicle was designed to test the technologies needed to return a rocket back to Earth intact. Indeeed, you can weirdly watch the rocket going up and down in an almost surreal way, as the footage, from a certain point, is played backward.
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While most rockets are designed to burn up on atmosphere reentry or to fall in the ocean, SpaceX rockets are being designed to return to the launch pad for a vertical landing and the Grasshopper VTVL vehicle acts as a technological demonstrator to perform steps aimed at achieving that goal.
According to SpaceX, Grasshopper 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.
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