15th August 2013 SpaceX Grasshopper performs lateral divert manoeuvre Fuel and oxygen accounts for just 0.3% of a rocket's price tag, while 75% of total costs are from the rocket's first stage. Instead of being discarded, fully reusable rockets could therefore slash the cost of space travel. The "Grasshopper" is a vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) prototype being tested by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), in order to assist development of the company's Falcon 9 rocket. On 13th August, the Grasshopper completed a divert test, flying to an altitude of 250m, with a 100m lateral manoeuvre before returning to the centre of the pad. This test demonstrated the vehicle's ability to perform more aggressive steering manoeuvres than have been attempted in previous flights. Grasshopper is taller than a ten story building, which makes the control problem particularly challenging. Diverts like this are an important part of the trajectory in order to land the rocket precisely back at the launch site after reentering from space at hypersonic velocity.
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