Photos taken by several local people from a public road in the vicinity of the test site – some of which were provided to L2, while others were posted openly on the internet – provide a glimpse of the landing leg structures that appear to be closely based on the hardware that SpaceX is expected to employ when they actually fly with legs on a Falcon 9.
…limitations at the Texas site result in an AGL (Altitude above Ground Level) ceiling for Grasshopper of 2,500 feet.
Once GH2 arrives in New Mexico, it will be able to fly to much greater altitudes.
Gywnne said at ISPCS in October that they hoped to be flying out of New Mexico by the end of the year, so it looks like they’ve slipped that schedule. I was going to ask her at a meeting I had with her a couple weeks ago, but we were interrupted before I had a chance.
Some ruminations on the possibility of death. As I note in the book, many extreme sports, not just motorsports, carry such danger, but it’s not regulated by the government. The commercial space industry will need to develop its own standards for different risk levels and activities.
Just a reminder, we only have two of them at Amazon, so for those of you who have read it, it would be nice to see some more, even if they’re not five stars (as the first two are).
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