Space X to announce "Something Big" today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6HQ9RtVCE Link to the live announcement at 11:15 ET here: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=78041
Yes, Falcon Heavy. And other things like more powerful Merlin engines. Demonstration flight being planned.
I wasn't able to watch the live stream (I had an important meeting at work). Does anyone know if this is available for replay anywhere? Maybe Youtube? Is anyone doing a live-blog?
watch here http://www.visualwebcaster.com/VWP/SkinPlayer/Player.asp?e=78041&w=320&h=310&s=False&ch=False&sm=False&c=False&c1=False&mc=&qo=False&p=False&i=False&pp=False&cp=False&v=True&mc=False&a=True&sid=141443&aid=142817&pl=&pr=&hs=&u=0&pid=1&pt=2&pc=False&cuts=6&t=Spacex
Elon Musk's favourite number? 53 kWh useable in a Roadster ESS metric tons to orbit with Falcon Heavy
Interesting they talk about 'twice the power' of the next nearest rocket in this context because the press release then goes on to say 12 metric tonnes to GTO. Boeing Delta IV Heavy can put 13.2 tonnes into GTO (without using fossil fuels too). Now there are GTOs and there are GTOs, but SpaceX marketing would surely use the best comparison.
The SpaceX press release is more specific in that it says: "Falcon Heavy will provide more than twice the performance to low Earth orbit of any other launch vehicle". According to Delta IV Heavy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , The low earth orbit performance of Delta Heavy is: 22,950 kg (~50,600 lb, I think) So even though the wikipedia numbers agree with yours for geosynchronous transfer orbit (GEO), the Falcon Heavy's low earth orbit (LEO) performance seems indeed more than twice as good (with 117,000 pounds). Unless I'm mixing something up, since I'm just getting numbers from wikipedia. EDIT: And therefore: "This will allow SpaceX to launch the largest satellites ever flown and will enable new missions"
Yes, that's why I said 'in this context'. So they can lift 50 tons to 200 km orbits... I think they might run out of fairing volume before hitting that mass limit. Hmm, what's big and flies around at those altitudes I wonder?
I think I remember reading that the intention was that they would be able to launch multiple satellites with a single rocket.
Falcon Heavy Launches According to SpaceX' launch manifest, a Falcon Heavy demonstration flight is planned as one of the next launches. Next Falcon Heavy Launch is in 2015. The Intelsat mission mentioned above in the thread follows in 2017. My excitement for Falcon Heavy will have to stretch for a looong period.
I think if they make progress on the F9 reusability and do a successful FH demo flight, then the customer base might expand faster than the current manifest foresees. I mean a FH is basically 3x F9 by design, the only tough component is the cross feed, which is optional in ordering and only needed if you want the higher part of the lift capacity. So I would not be surprised to see after a demo flight a bunch of FH orders popping up on the manifest for 2015/2016.
FH is not going to fly any time soon, more likely end of this year. We need to hear first something from the McGregor FH-test stand...