Space X's Grasshopper Achieves Record Jump

The test rocket for SpaceX, called the Grasshopper, made a record jump recently, reaching a height of 24 stories or 80.1 meters (262.8 feet), the company announced Sunday.

The Grasshopper not only achieved its highest hop, but also landed with unmatched precision. The Grasshopper is SpaceX's vertical and takeoff and landing (VTVL) vehicle.

"This is Grasshopper's fourth in a series of test flights, with each test demonstrating exponential increases in altitude. Last September, Grasshopper flew to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet), in November, it flew to 5.4 meters (17.7 feet) and in December, it flew to 40 meters (131 feet)," the company said in a statement.

The company says that the use of the Grasshopper would make landing of launched rockets more efficient. The rockets can also be used as they can be safely brought back to Earth without being destroyed by Earth's atmosphere. 

"If we can't make rockets reusable, the cost is just prohibitive," said Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of SpaceX at the South By Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, reports Discovery News. "The cost of the fuel and oxidizer on a Falcon 9 (SpaceX rocket) is 0.3 percent of the cost of the rocket, so it's basically a very tiny number, similar to an airplane."

The Falcon 9 is a two stage, liquid oxygen and rocket grade kerosene (RP-1) powered launch vehicle made by the company.