SpaceX's Grasshopper VTOL rocket triples its previous best with 840-foot hop (video)

If it were in Aesop's fable, SpaceX's Grasshopper would probably be the ant instead, as the reusable rocket's team haven't stopped working since the 10-story craft launched back in September. It just tripled its previous altitude mark of 263 feet by soaring to 840 feet, hovering a tick, then gently landing on the exact spot it took off, all while making it look easy. Head after the jump for a video of the whole affair, which was captured rather dramatically by the company's hexacopter.

Source: SpaceX (YouTube)

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By: Unknown On 6:14 PM

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Watch live: Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket to lift off on test flight (update: success!)

SpaceX may be the only private outfit currently shepherding cargo to the International Space Station, but Orbital Sciences, which is the second party in NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services effort, is taking a step towards its own ISS resupply missions. Today, the firm's Antares rocket will undergo its very first test flight, taking off from the space agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. Liftoff is slated for sometime between 5PM and 7PM, with an 80 percent chance of favorable weather, as opposed to the 45 percent odds and high-altitude winds that foiled its initial attempt yesterday. To watch Antares embark on its maiden voyage, hit the jump for a live video feed.

Update: Antares blasted off at a hair past 5PM and successfully separated from its mock payload. The live stream has wrapped up, but we'll slot in a video of the launch as soon as we get ahold of one.

Update 2: NASA just posted its footage of the rocket taking off, and we've placed the video after the break for your viewing pleasure.

[Image credit: NASA, Flickr]

Source: NASA (1), (2), Orbital Sciences

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By: Unknown On 10:31 PM

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South Korea successfully launches native rocket and satellite into space

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The spacefaring club has been a small one: to date, just 10 countries have managed to build their own rocket and successfully deploy at least a satellite. Make that 11. South Korea has entered the fold by successfully launching its mostly self-developed, two-stage Naro rocket and putting the vehicle's Science and Technology Satellite-2C payload into orbit. The achievement comes after two prominent failures in 2009 and 2010, and is partly symbolic when there's no plans for a short-term follow-up. However, the success gets the ball rolling for the long run -- the Korea Aerospace Research Institute is working with contractors to build completely in-house rocket stages by 2016, and reach 300 tons of thrust as soon as 2018.

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Via: Space.com

Source: Yonhap News Agency

More Coverage: Wall Street Journal

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By: Dilusha On 5:03 PM

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NASA rocket to paint the sky red, tune in tonight starting at 4:30PM ET (video)

Decades ago, NASA would frequently light up the night sky with chemical trails as part of its measurements of upper atmosphere behavior. While those moments are increasingly rare, we'll get a rare chance to enjoy one of them this evening. The agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is launching a suborbital rocket that will generate (and test) a pair of trails of red-tinted lithium as it flies above Eastern US coastline -- trails bright enough that large parts of the seaboard may get a first-hand look as the rocket gains altitude. If you fall outside of that range, don't fret. NASA will stream the whole affair starting from 4:30PM Eastern, with a hoped-for takeoff over an hour later. Catch the feed below when the launch is live, and hit the source links for more about the mission itself.

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Via: Space.com

Source: NASA

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By: Dilusha On 8:20 PM

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SpaceX's Grasshopper Rocket Takes Off and Lands Vertically and Can Also Hover

This story will display in ...Dec 27, 2012 1:12 PM  

There's no doubt that the future of this country's space exploration lies in the hands of the private sector. And Elon Musk's SpaceX is clearly at the forefront and the company's reusable rocket, the Grasshopper, is a sight to see. In a recent test, the Grasshopper vertically took off, ascended to roughly 12 stories, hovered for a bit and then landed safely. Of course it's meant to go much, much higher but progress is progress.

Here's a multi-angle shot of the same test. [SpaceX]

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By: Dilusha On 9:51 AM

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SpaceX Grasshopper reusable rocket improves leap to 131 feet (video)

Not to mix Aesop's Fables or anything, but when it comes to the world of commercial space race, sometimes slow and steady is the thing. A couple months back, we watched SpaceX's reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing rocket, the Grasshopper, nudge its way off the ground. And while this current test isn't exactly the "few hundred feet to two miles" that we were promised, it's quite literally a step in the right direction, at 131 feet, plus some quality hover time. All in all, the test, conducted December 17th in McGregor, Texas, took around 29 seconds to unfold. Relive it in the video after the break.

Continue reading SpaceX Grasshopper reusable rocket improves leap to 131 feet (video)

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By: Dilusha On 8:28 PM

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