SpaceX's Grasshopper Hops More than 2,000 Feet Before Returning Safely [VIDEO]

Grasshopper, SpaceX's unmanned reusable rocket prototype, jumped to new heights last week, reaching 2,440 feet before slowly and safely descending back down to the pad it launched from.

Most rockets are designed to burn up in the atmosphere upon reentry, greatly increasing the cost of spaceflight. Established in 2002 by PayPal's Elon Musk, SpaceX sees reusable rockets as an important step in cutting costs. By not only withstanding reentry, but landing vertically on the launchpad, Grasshopper is designed to make space travel more affordable.

The announcement comes a month after the vehicle completed a 300-foot sideways hop and four months after it reached a height of 1,006 feet, making use of its full navigation sensor suite for the first time.

"Most rockets are equipped with sensors to determine position, but these sensors are generally not accurate enough to accomplish the type of precision landing necessary with Grasshopper," its developers explained at the time.

Grasshopper boasts a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers and a steel support structure.

According to SpaceX, the Falcon 9 rocket "was designed from the ground up for maximum reliability," first making history in 2012 when it delivered the cargo capsule Dragon into orbit for rendezvous with the International Space Station.

The Dragon, also designed by SpaceX, made the organization the first commercial company to visit the station.

In the last two years, SpaceX has successfully delivered cargo to the station for NASA three times, with the ultimate goal of ferrying cosmonauts to and from the orbiting lab -- a goal it says it is "actively working toward" at this time.

Even this does not represent the full scale of SpaceX ambition, however, which announced upon its creation more than a decade ago the goal of opening up the pathway to the colonization of other planets.