WATCH: The amazing SpaceX rocket that can blast off... and come right back

[Steve Williams]

I know that I marvel at Elon Musk's genius.....

Former PayPal mogul Elon Musk's SpaceX has reached another major milestone in the private sector's space race.

SpaceX designed a 10-story Falcon 9 rocket — called the Grasshopper — capable of blasting off and then immediately descending back to Earth. The rocket already showed earlier this summer that it can go up hundreds of yards and then come back down — but this week it successfully maneuvered 100 yards to the side, then used special navigation sensors to return safely and precisely back to the launch pad.
Tech writers were duly impressed. "That is rocket science," says Jason Paur at Wired. "The really cool kind of rocket science." Forget Musk's recently unveiled design for a supersonic "Hyperloop" mass transit system on Earth, Paur says, because this is "far cooler.".........

http://news.yahoo.com/watch-amazing-spacex-rocket-blast-off-come-back-110000793.html

 

[rockitman]

Thing is, it must carry twice as much fuel...you need take-off and probably more to land it in a gravity environment. As cool as it is, it is not practical solution, imo.

 

[GaryProtein]

He did it just like in the 1950's science fiction movies! Remarkable!

I'm sure it needed a lot of fuel, but that won't be a problem once they get the impulse drive and matter-antimatter engines worked out.

 

[rockitman]

but that won't be a problem once they get the impulse drive and matter-antimatter engines worked out.

That should happen in my lifetime...ahem, I'm 51....

 

[GaryProtein]

That should happen in my lifetime...ahem, I'm 51....

I think I'm not quite going to make it when Zefram Cochrane invents warp drive in 2063.

 

[Steve Williams]

That should happen in my lifetime...ahem, I'm 51....

you need to read more about Elon Musk

you must have been ~ 7 yo when man landed on the moon

 

[rockitman]

you need to read more about Elon Musk

you must have been ~ 7 yo when man landed on the moon

He's a big dreamer, no doubt. Some of his idea's like this one may be more feasible in a 100 years. You do know how much rocket fuel weighs ? It is the majority of the weight a rocket needs to carry just getting into orbit, let alone what he would need, at least twice that to bring it home and land. There would be no room left for payload. Keep in mind this test was in our atmosphere and not very high up.. If he can get the rocket in orbit, then bring it back to earth slowly using rocket propellant, he may be on to something. I remain skeptical.

 

[Soundproof]

The goal of the Grasshopper rocket is to be able to reuse the first launch stage, but there are huge challenges, and the test program is already significantly behind schedule.
The Hyperloop is something Musk "doesn't have time to do himself," and therefore an idea he throws out there, in order for investors and the public to consider him far ahead of the curve. There will be more of these curveballs.