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Grasshopper / Falcon-9R-Dev
 Grasshopper [SpaceX] |
 Falcon-9R-Dev |
Grasshopper is a suborbital technological research vehicle built by SpaceX to develop a reusable, vertical landing first stage for the Falcon-9 rocket.
Grasshopper consists of the first stage of Falcon-9 v1.0, fitted with only one Merlin-1D engine and fixed landing legs. SpaceX conducts low altitude flights of Grasshopper at the company’s McGregor, Texas, test site.
Falcon-9R-Dev is test vehicle for the Falcon-9 v1.1 and consists of the longer first stage of Falcon-9 v1.1(ex), fitted with three Merlin-1D engine and operational deployable lightweight landing legs. SpaceX conducts low altitude flights of the Falcon-9R-Dev at the company’s McGregor, Texas, test site and plans to conduct higher altitude suborbital tests with a second vehicle at Spaceport America, a new commercial spaceport in New Mexico. The second vehicle was apparently converted to the Abort Test Booster to be used in the Crew Dragon Flight Abort Test at Vandenberg.
| Version | Stage 1 |
|---|---|
| Grasshopper | Stage 1 / Merlin-1D |
| Falcon-9R-Dev ("Grasshopper-2") | Stage 1 (str.) / 3 × Merlin-1D |
No. TypNo Type Serial/Core Date LS Payload
1 1 Grasshopper B0002.1 22.09.2012 * MG (R&D) 2 2 Grasshopper B0002.2 01.11.2012 * MG (R&D) 3 3 Grasshopper B0002.3 17.12.2012 * MG (R&D) 4 4 Grasshopper B0002.4 07.03.2013 * MG (R&D) 5 5 Grasshopper B0002.5 19.04.2013 * MG (R&D) 6 6 Grasshopper B0002.6 14.06.2013 * MG (R&D) 7 7 Grasshopper B0002.7 13.08.2013 * MG (R&D) 8 8 Grasshopper B0002.8 07.10.2013 * MG (R&D) 9 1 Falcon-9R-Dev-1 B1002.1 17.04.2014 * MG (R&D) 10 2 Falcon-9R-Dev-1 B1002.2 01.05.2014 * MG (R&D) 11 3 Falcon-9R-Dev-1 B1002.3 17.06.2014 * MG (R&D) 12 4 Falcon-9R-Dev-1 B1002.4 01.08.2014 * MG (R&D) 13 5 Falcon-9R-Dev-1 B1002.5 22.08.2014 *F MG (R&D) Failures: 13: Vehicle lost control and was automatically destroyed Launch sites: MG = SpaceX McGregor Test Site, McGregor, Texas, USASA = Spaceport America (SouthWest Regional Spaceport), Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, USA
