Falcon 9 prototypes

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Grasshopper in September 2012 Spx Grasshopper 03.jpg
Grasshopper in September 2012

Falcon 9 prototypes were experimental flight test reusable rockets that performed vertical takeoffs and landings. [1] The project was privately funded by SpaceX, with no funds provided by any government until later on. [2] Two prototypes were built, and both were launched from the ground. [3]

Contents

The earliest prototype was Grasshopper. It was announced in 2011 [4] and began low-altitude, low-velocity hover/landing testing in 2012. Grasshopper was 106 ft (32 m) tall and made eight successful test flights in 2012 and 2013 before being retired. A second prototype of Falcon 9 was the larger and more capable Falcon 9 Reusable Development Vehicle (F9R Dev, also known as F9R Dev1) based on the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle. It was tested at higher altitudes and was capable of much higher velocity but was never tested at high velocity. The F9R Dev1 vehicle was built in 2013–2014 and made its first low-altitude flight test on 17 April 2014; it was lost during a three-engine test at the McGregor test site on 22 August 2014, [5] which ended the low-velocity test program. Further expansion of the flight test envelope for the reusable rocket was moved to descending Falcon 9 boosters that had been used on orbital flight trajectories on commercial orbital flights of the Falcon 9.

The Grasshopper and F9R Dev tests were fundamental to the development of the reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which require vertical landings of the near-empty Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy first-stage booster tanks and engine assemblies. The Grasshopper and the F9R Dev tests led into a series of high-altitude, high-speed controlled-descent tests of post-mission (spent) Falcon 9 booster stages that accompanied the commercial Falcon 9 missions since September 2013. The latter eventually resulted in the first successful booster landing on 21 December 2015.

History

Grasshopper performing a 325-meter flight followed by a soft propulsive landing in an attempt to develop technologies for a reusable launch vehicle. SpaceX Grasshopper rocket midflight.png
Grasshopper performing a 325-meter flight followed by a soft propulsive landing in an attempt to develop technologies for a reusable launch vehicle.

Grasshopper first became known publicly in the third quarter of 2011, when space journalists first wrote about it after analyzing space launch regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration. [1]

Shortly thereafter, SpaceX confirmed the existence of the test vehicle development program, and projected it would begin the Grasshopper flight test program in 2012. [4] [6]

Releases of public information in 2011 indicated that the subsonic tests would occur in McGregor, Texas in three phases, at maximum flight altitudes of 670 to 11,500 ft (200 to 3,510 m), for durations of 45 to 160 s (0.75 to 2.67 min). At the time, testing was expected to take up to three years and the initial FAA permit allows up to 70 suborbital launches per year. [1] [7] A half-acre concrete launch facility was constructed to support the test flight program. [6] In September 2012, SpaceX announced that they have requested FAA approval to increase the altitude of some of the initial test flights. [8] Looking forward to the next year, CEO Musk said in November 2012: "Over the next few months, we'll gradually increase the altitude and speed. ... I do think there probably will be some craters along the way; we'll be very lucky if there are no craters. Vertical landing is an extremely important breakthrough — extreme, rapid reusability." [9]

In May 2013, SpaceX announced that the higher-altitude, higher-velocity part of the Grasshopper flight test program would be done at Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico—and not at the Federal Government's adjacent White Sands Missile Range facility as previously planned [3] [10] [11] [12] —and signed a three-year lease for land and facilities at the recently operational spaceport. [11] SpaceX indicated in May 2013 that they did not yet know how many jobs might move from Texas to New Mexico. [13]

SpaceX began constructing a 30 m × 30 m (98 ft × 98 ft) pad at Spaceport America in May 2013, 7 km (4.3 mi) southwest of the spaceport's main campus, planning to lease the pad for US$6,600 per month plus US$25,000 per test flight. [14]

Description

Grasshopper

Grasshopper consisted of "a Falcon 9 [v1.0] first-stage tank, a single Merlin-1D engine" with a height of 32 m (106 ft). [1] The landing gear was fixed.

As Elon Musk stated, Grasshopper could land on Earth with the accuracy of a helicopter. [15]

F9R Dev1

F9R Dev1 was constructed out of the used first-stage tank of the Falcon 9 v1.1, [16] it was 160-foot tall, [17] nearly 50% longer than the first Grasshopper. [18] The landing legs were retractable by design, with a telescoping piston mounted on an A-frame. The total span of the four legs was approximately 18 m (60 ft) and the weight less than 2,100 kg (4,600 lb); the deployment system used high-pressure helium. [19] The legs had less weight than on the first Grasshopper. The F9R Dev1 had a different engine bay than the first Grasshopper vehicle. [18]

The F9R Dev1 vehicle in Texas was intended to take off and accelerate with three engines—as the test flight never needs the full thrust to take off a fully loaded Falcon 9 with an orbital payload—while completing the descent and landing with only one engine. [20] The original Grasshopper had flown exclusively with only a single Merlin 1D engine in place, the center engine which is now used to complete the last phase of the deceleration and vertical landing on full-scale Falcon 9 rockets.

F9R Dev2 (never flown)

A third flight test vehicle—F9R Dev2—was initially planned to be flown only at the high-altitude test range at Spaceport America [11] [2] and at altitudes of up to 91,000 meters (300,000 ft). [17] [21] [16] In September 2014, following the destruction of the F9R Dev1, SpaceX changed the plans, so the F9R Dev2 vehicle would fly first in McGregor for low-altitude testing. The initial FAA permit to fly the Falcon 9 Reusable Development Vehicle at McGregor in Texas was open until February 2015. [22]

On 19 February 2015 SpaceX announced that the F9R Dev2 would be discontinued. [23]

During April 2015, SpaceX performed tanking tests on the In-Flight Abort rocket on the Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-4E. Since this rocket only had three Merlin 1D engines, and the New Mexico site was to have been used for testing the returned first stages, it was speculated that the discontinued F9R Dev2 was re-purposed as the launch vehicle in the In-Flight Abort Test. [24]

In May 2015, a press article stated that due to the technical success of many aspects of the booster rocket landing attempts on the sea and on the ASDS, SpaceX was planning on using the New Mexico site for testing the returned stages. [25] [26]

Flight testing

Grasshopper flight tests

The first Falcon 9 prototype, Grasshopper, made a total of eight test flights between September 2012 and October 2013. [27] All eight flights were from the McGregor, Texas test facility.

Grasshopper began flight testing in September 2012 with a brief, three-second hop, followed by a second hop in November 2012 with an 8-second flight that took the testbed approximately 5.4 m (18 ft) off the ground, and a third flight in December 2012 of 29 seconds duration, with extended hover under rocket engine power, in which it ascended to an altitude of 40 m (130 ft) before descending under rocket power to come to a successful vertical landing. [28] Grasshopper made its eighth, and final, test flight on October 7, 2013, flying to an altitude of 744 m (2,441 ft) before making its eighth successful vertical landing. [29] The Grasshopper test vehicle is now retired. [27]

Flight tests at the Texas facility were limited to a maximum altitude of 2,500 ft (760 m) by the initial FAA regulatory permit. [30]

#Date (y-m-d)Highest altitudeDurationVideoRemarks
12012-09-21 [10] 1.8 m (6 ft) [10] 3s [10] [31] A "brief hop" [32] with a near-empty tank.
22012-11-01 [33] 5.4 m (17.7 ft) [33] 8s [33] [34]
32012-12-17 [35] 40 m (131 ft) [35] 29s [35] [36] First flight to include the cowboy mannequin
42013-03-07 [37] 80 m (262 ft) [38] 34s [38] [39] Touchdown thrust-to-weight ratio greater than one [40]
52013-04-17 [41] 250 m (820 ft) [41] 58s [42] Demonstrated ability to maintain stability in wind [43]
62013-06-14 [44] 325 m (1,070 ft) [44] 68s [45] [46] New navigation sensor suite tested; needed on the F9-R for precision landing [47]
72013-08-13 [48] 250 m (820 ft) [48] 60s [49] Successfully completed a "divert test" performing 100 m (330 ft) lateral maneuver before returning to the pad. [48]
82013-10-07 [50] 744 m (2,440 ft) [51] 79s [52] [51] Final flight of Grasshopper. Vehicle retired after the flight. [27]

From the announcement in 2011 until 2014, SpaceX has achieved each of the schedule milestones that they publicly announced. SpaceX said in February 2012 that they were planning several vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) test flights during 2012, [3] and confirmed in June 2012 that they continued to plan to make the first test flight within the next couple of months. [6]

F9R Dev1 flight tests

The Falcon 9 Reusable Development Vehicle, or F9R Dev, was announced in October 2012. F9R Dev1 was initially named, since late 2012 until early 2014, as Grasshopper v1.1. [17] [29] In March 2013 Musk said that SpaceX hoped to reach hypersonic speed before the end of 2013. [53] In March 2013, it was announced that the second Grasshopper-class suborbital flight vehicle would be constructed out of the Falcon 9 v1.1 first-stage tank that had been used for qualification testing in Texas at the SpaceX Rocket Development and Test Facility prior to March. [16]

In 2014, the FAA permit was increased to 10,000 ft (3,000 m) for the F9R Dev testing at McGregor, [21] when the first Grasshopper was limited to an altitude of 2,500 ft (760 m).

The F9R Dev1 was built on the much longer Falcon 9 v1.1 first stage tanks, and with retractable landing legs.

SpaceX performed a short-duration ground test (static test) of F9R Dev1 on March 28, 2014, at their McGregor, Texas test site, [54] and made their maiden test flight of the new vehicle, to an altitude of 250 meters (820 ft), on April 17, 2014. [21] [20] The F9R Dev1 flew for the fifth and last time on August 22, 2014. [17] [55] During this flight, anomalous sensor data from the vehicle during its ascent caused the rocket to deviate from nominal flight trajectory, prompting its flight termination system to end the mission by neutralizing the vehicle. No injuries or near-injuries were reported following the breakup of F9R Dev1 and an FAA representative was present during the test. Video from the accident was released by CBS and multiple images from the accident were posted on social media. [5] [56]

Test #Date (year-month-day)Test vehicleLocationHighest altitudeVideoRemarks
12014-04-17 [17] F9R Dev1 McGregor 250 m (820 ft) [17] [57] Hovered, moved sideways, landed successfully. [20]
22014-05-01 [58] F9R Dev1McGregor1,000 m (3,280 ft) [59] [59] Hovered, moved sideways, landed. [58]
32014-06-17F9R Dev1McGregor1,000 m (3,280 ft) [60] [60] First test flight with steerable grid fins. [60]
42014-08-01 [61] F9R Dev1McGregorNo public information was provided by SpaceX about this flight. [62]
52014-08-22 [61] F9R Dev1McGregor [63] [64] Vehicle was destroyed following a flight anomaly that began to take F9R Dev1 off of its planned flight path. No injuries. [55] [65] A blocked sensor was the cause of the anomaly. The sensor had no backup in the prototype F9R Dev vehicle but flight-rated Falcon 9 rockets do have a redundant backup. [66] First activation of an autonomous flight termination system on a US rocket. [67]

Falcon 9 post-mission landing tests

Falcon 9 first stage attempts landing on ASDS after second stage with CRS-6 continued onto orbit. Landing legs are in the midst of deploying. Falcon 9 first stage attempts landing on ASDS after CRS-6 (17170624412).jpg
Falcon 9 first stage attempts landing on ASDS after second stage with CRS-6 continued onto orbit. Landing legs are in the midst of deploying.

In 2013, SpaceX moved to using their mainstream Falcon 9 vehicles for VTVL testing, in addition to their existing tests with flying test vehicles. In March 2013, SpaceX announced that, beginning with the first flight of the stretch version of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle—the sixth flight overall of Falcon 9 (then anticipated for summer 2013), every first stage would be instrumented and equipped as a controlled descent test vehicle. [68] SpaceX attempted numerous over-water landings, both over the sea, resulting in soft landings into the water, and onto specialized Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships, barges modified to be landing platforms. None were completely successful.

SpaceX eventually succeeded in landing a production vertical-landing rocket on land in late 2015. The first attempt to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 on land, near its launch site, occurred on Falcon 9 Flight 20, on 21 December 2015. The landing was successful, and the first stage of the Falcon 9 Full Thrust vehicle was recovered. [69] [70] [71] By May 27, 2016, SpaceX had successfully completed three first-stage landings on a drone ship at sea. [72]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX</span> American private spacecraft company

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an American space technology company. Since its founding in 2001, the company has made great advancement in rocket propulsion, reusable launch vehicle, human spaceflight and satellite constellation technology. By the late 2010s, SpaceX became the world's dominant space launch provider, rivaling the Chinese space program's launch cadance and eclipsed all of its competitors. SpaceX, NASA and United States Armed Forces have a symbiotic relationship, bounded together by governmental contracts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing X-37</span> Reusable robotic spaceplane

The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable robotic spacecraft. It is boosted into space by a launch vehicle, then re-enters Earth's atmosphere and lands as a spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, in collaboration with United States Space Force, for orbital spaceflight missions intended to demonstrate reusable space technologies. It is a 120-percent-scaled derivative of the earlier Boeing X-40. The X-37 began as a NASA project in 1999, before being transferred to the United States Department of Defense in 2004. Until 2019, the program was managed by Air Force Space Command.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Launch vehicle</span> Rocket used to carry a spacecraft into space

A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage rocket, but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like the Space Shuttle. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, supported by a launch control center and systems such as vehicle assembly and fueling. Launch vehicles are engineered with advanced aerodynamics and technologies, which contribute to high operating costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falcon 9</span> Orbital launch vehicle by SpaceX

Falcon 9 is a partially reusable, human-rated, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on 4 June 2010, and the first commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched on 8 October 2012. In 2020, it became the first commercial rocket to launch humans to orbit. The Falcon 9 has an exceptional safety record, with 384 successful launches, two in-flight failures, one partial failure and one pre-flight destruction. It is the most-launched American rocket in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spaceport America</span> Spaceport located in New Mexico, U.S.

Spaceport America, formerly the Southwest Regional Spaceport, is an FAA-licensed spaceport located on 18,000 acres (7,300 ha) of State Trust Land in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin 45 miles (72 km) north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Truth or Consequences. With Virgin Galactic's launch of the VSS Unity, with three people aboard, on May 22, 2021, New Mexico became the third US state to launch humans into space after California and Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VTVL</span> Method of takeoff and landing used by rockets; vertical takeoff, vertical landing

Vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) is a form of takeoff and landing for rockets. Multiple VTVL craft have flown. The most successful VTVL vehicle was the Apollo Lunar Module which delivered the first humans to the Moon. Building on the decades of development, SpaceX utilised the VTVL concept for its flagship Falcon 9 first stage, which has delivered over three hundred successful powered landings so far.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grid fin</span> Type of flight control surface used on rockets and bombs

Grid fins are a type of flight control surface used on rockets and bombs, sometimes in place of more conventional control surfaces, such as planar fins. They were developed in the 1950s by a team led by Sergey Belotserkovskiy and used since the 1970s in various Soviet ballistic missile designs such as the SS-12 Scaleboard, SS-20 Saber, SS-21 Scarab, SS-23 Spider, and SS-25 Sickle, as well as the N-1. In Russia, they are thus often referred to as Belotserkovskiy grid fins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falcon Heavy</span> SpaceX heavy-lift launch vehicle

Falcon Heavy is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle with partial reusability that can carry cargo into Earth orbit, and beyond. It is designed, manufactured and launched by American aerospace company SpaceX.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX launch vehicles</span> Launch vehicles developed and operated by SpaceX

SpaceX manufactures launch vehicles to operate its launch provider services and to execute its various exploration goals. SpaceX currently manufactures and operates the Falcon 9 Block 5 family of medium-lift launch vehicles and the Falcon Heavy family of heavy-lift launch vehicles – both of which are powered by SpaceX Merlin engines and employ VTVL technologies to reuse the first stage. As of 2024, the company is also developing the fully reusable Starship launch system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX reusable launch system development program</span> Effort by SpaceX to make rockets that can fly multiple times

SpaceX has privately funded the development of orbital launch systems that can be reused many times, similar to the reusability of aircraft. SpaceX has developed technologies over the last decade to facilitate full and rapid reuse of space launch vehicles. The project's long-term objectives include returning a launch vehicle first stage to the launch site within minutes and to return a second stage to the launch pad, following orbital realignment with the launch site and atmospheric reentry in up to 24 hours. SpaceX's long term goal would have been reusability of both stages of their orbital launch vehicle, and the first stage would be designed to allow reuse a few hours after return. Development of reusable second stages for Falcon 9 was later abandoned in favor of developing Starship, however, SpaceX developed reusable payload fairings for the Falcon 9.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX CRS-8</span> 2016 American spaceflight to the ISS

SpaceX CRS-8, also known as SpX-8, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was launched on April 8, 2016, at 20:43 UTC. It was the 23rd flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, the tenth flight of a Dragon cargo spacecraft and the eighth operational mission contracted to SpaceX by NASA under the Commercial Resupply Services program. The capsule carried over 3,100 kilograms (6,800 lb) of cargo to the ISS including the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), a prototype inflatable space habitat delivered in the vehicle's trunk, which was attached to the station and, as of May 2022, is expected to remain so for five more full years of in-orbit viability tests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX facilities</span> Launch facilities used by SpaceX

As of 2023, SpaceX operates four launch facilities: Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), Vandenberg Space Force Base Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E), Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), and Brownsville South Texas Launch Site (Starbase). Space Launch Complex 40 was damaged in the AMOS-6 accident in September 2016 and repair work was completed by December 2017. SpaceX believes that they can optimize their launch operations, and reduce launch costs, by dividing their launch missions amongst these four launch facilities: LC-39A for NASA launches, SLC-40 for United States Space Force national security launches, SLC-4E for polar launches, and South Texas Launch Site for commercial launches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falcon 9 v1.1</span> Second version of the SpaceX medium-lift launch vehicle

Falcon 9 v1.1 was the second version of SpaceX's Falcon 9 orbital launch vehicle. The rocket was developed in 2011–2013, made its maiden launch in September 2013, and its final flight in January 2016. The Falcon 9 rocket was fully designed, manufactured, and operated by SpaceX. Following the second Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) launch, the initial version Falcon 9 v1.0 was retired from use and replaced by the v1.1 version.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falcon 9 v1.0</span> First version of the SpaceX medium-lift launch vehicle

The Falcon 9 v1.0 was the first member of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle family, designed and manufactured by SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. Development of the medium-lift launcher began in 2005, and it first flew on June 4, 2010. The Falcon 9 v1.0 then launched four Dragon cargo spacecraft: one on an orbital test flight, then one demonstration and two operational resupply missions to the International Space Station under a Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falcon 9 first-stage landing tests</span> Proofs of the SpaceX boosters reusability

The Falcon 9 first-stage landing tests were a series of controlled-descent flight tests conducted by SpaceX between 2013 and 2016. Since 2017, the first stage of Falcon 9 rockets are routinely landed if the performance requirements of the launch allow.

Autonomous spaceport drone ship Floating landing platform operated by SpaceX

An autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) is a modified ocean-going barge equipped with propulsion systems to maintain precise position and a large landing platform. SpaceX developed these vessels to recover the first stage of its launch vehicles. By recovering and reusing these boosters, SpaceX has significantly reduced the cost of space launch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falcon 9 flight 20</span> Falcon 9 space launch that occurred on 22 December 2015 at 01:29:00 UTC

Falcon 9 flight 20 was a Falcon 9 space launch that occurred on 22 December 2015 at 01:29:00 UTC. It was the first time that the first stage of an orbital rocket made a successful return and vertical landing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falcon 9 Full Thrust</span> Third version of the SpaceX medium-lift launch vehicle

Falcon 9 Full Thrust is a partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. It is the third major version of the Falcon 9 family, designed starting in 2014, with its first launch operations in December 2015. It was later refined into the Block 4 and Block 5. As of 24 October 2024, all variants of the Falcon 9 Full Thrust had performed 367 launches without only one failure of Starlink Group 9-3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floating launch vehicle operations platform</span>

A floating launch vehicle operations platform is a marine vessel used for launch or landing operations of an orbital launch vehicle by a launch service provider: putting satellites into orbit around Earth or another celestial body, or recovering first-stage boosters from orbital-class flights by making a propulsive landing on the platform.

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