SpaceX Leases Pad in New Mexico for Next Grasshopper Tests

摘要

The next phase of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s (SpaceX) experimental Grasshopper program, a key part of the Hawthorne, Calif., rocket maker's attempt to build a reusable space booster, will be based at New Mexico's Spaceport America under the terms of a three-year lease the spaceport announced May 7. From Spaceport America, which is about 50 kilometers southeast of Truth or Consequences, N.M., and about 60 kilometers west of the restricted air space over the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range, Grasshopper could fly much higher than the 760-meter ceiling the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed for launches from SpaceX's rocket test site in McGregor, Texas. "Spaceport America offers us the physical and regulatory landscape needed to complete the next phase of Grasshopper testing," Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said in the Spaceport's May 7 press release about the lease.