Patience grasshopper...
About a week before Elon's National Press Club talk, SpaceX filed this draft environmental assessment with the FAA (http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...0110922 SpaceX Grasshopper Draft EA.Final.pdf (pdf)) for permission to test a reusable launch vehicle called the Grasshoppper at a site in Texas.
Btw, here's video of the Press Club talk: Future of Human Space Flight - C-SPAN Video Library
About a week before Elon's National Press Club talk, SpaceX filed this draft environmental assessment with the FAA (http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...0110922 SpaceX Grasshopper Draft EA.Final.pdf (pdf)) for permission to test a reusable launch vehicle called the Grasshoppper at a site in Texas.
2.1.1 Grasshopper RLV
2.1.1.1 Description
The Grasshopper RLV consists of a Falcon 9 Stage 1 tank, a Merlin-1D engine, four steel
landing legs, and a steel support structure. Carbon overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs),
which are filled with either nitrogen or helium, are attached to the support structure. The Merlin-
1D engine has a maximum thrust of 122,000 pounds. The overall height of the Grasshopper
RLV is 106 feet, and the tank height is 85 feet.
The propellants used in the Grasshopper RLV include a highly refined kerosene fuel, called RP-
1, and liquid oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer. The Grasshopper RLV has a maximum operational
propellant load of approximately 6,900 gallons; however, the propellant loads for any one test
would often be lower than the maximum propellant load. Even when the maximum propellant
load is used, the majority of the propellant would remain unburned and would serve as ballast to
keep the thrust-to-weight ratio low.
...
Btw, here's video of the Press Club talk: Future of Human Space Flight - C-SPAN Video Library