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.
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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