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I will still be holding my breath after FH clears the tower. I suspect it is impossible to accurately model the complexities of 27 Merlin engines firing simultaneously in a configuration that has never flown before. There is a real risk of a RUD until after the vehicle passes through Max Q and MECO occurs.
IT may be something silly like the wheel of cheese payload in the first F9 Dragon capsule launch. See Wheel of Cheese Launched Into Space On Private Spacecraft
Well, considering it is an FH this time, maybe a thousand wheels of cheese.
IT may be something silly like the wheel of cheese payload in the first F9 Dragon capsule launch. See Wheel of Cheese Launched Into Space On Private Spacecraft
Well, considering it is an FH this time, maybe a thousand wheels of cheese.
I'm still hoping for something useful and significant along with a wheel of cheese. A mini space depot put into a lunar orbit would be incredible. Even Elon's original Mars garden would be something cool. A basic space telescope put into the Moon's Lagrange point to get it away from the light pollution of Earth. Something inexpensive but useful...
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Maybe a Tesla Roadster? Or a holy grail, a shubbery, and several tons of wafer thin mints?
Yes, I agree it could be something very cool. It makes sense for SpaceX (Musk) not to talk about it before the launch - there's the idea it could jinx the launch to have too much attention on the payload. And they can leave the question of what it was for some future revelation if there is a problem.
Anyhow, success with this launch is the main thing. I hope everything proves out to be flawless.
IT may be something silly like the wheel of cheese payload in the first F9 Dragon capsule launch. See Wheel of Cheese Launched Into Space On Private Spacecraft
Well, considering it is an FH this time, maybe a thousand wheels of cheese.
I think I read somewhere they were planning to launch the current Planetary Society Light Sail,
but I would have to research if that was scrapped or it still holds.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if they launch a handful (or a swarm) of preliminary StarLink satellites for testing. SpaceX has said they want to get a few of them into orbit within the next few months for testing purposes, and it just makes sense to put them on a rocket that doesn't currently have a customer.
Reasons this might not be true:
- Test satellites are still expensive (especially the first few) and they may not want to put them on a riskier maiden flight.
- Do these satellites need to go in a high-inclination orbit out of Vandenberg, or does Florida give them an orbit they need?
I will be surprised if anything of value goes up as a payload in the first FH launch. Elon has stated publicly that it is entirely possible that the launch will be a failure. He’s trying to set expectations. This is a new class of vehicle for SpaceX and it’s not possible to computer model the flight dynamics with 100% certainty. It could be a spectacular RUD. That said, I am optimistic that whatever the payload turns out to be it will make it to orbit!
Nikxice
Active Member
Launch viewing tip for "Secret Level" referral winners. Don't throw out August eclipse glasses.
nwdiver
Well-Known Member
e-FTW
New electron smell
Yes, I think this was the first video I ever watched on the Interwebs. But rewatching just now, it isn't quite the same video; I distinctly remember the screams as bits of whale started falling on the bystanders.
A quick reminder of the introduction of Falcon Heavy. From April 5, 2011.
So six and a half years later. Keep in mind that Falcon 9 advanced so much that F9 was able to launch almost all of the payloads that were developed for FH because of this conference.
35:15 We have an idea of super heavy lift capability in order of 150 t to orbit.
The real issue is the initial F9 v1.1 payload to GTO improved so substantially to Block V that many FH missions are being flown with expendable Block III/IV F9s and the ultimate 8300kg to GTO with expendable Block V capability takes care of perhaps 3/4 of currently booked FH launches. Of course SpaceX would rather refly those Block Vs, but we have the interesting possibility of a Block V flying 9x reusable and then expendable on the 10th flight, given that FH missions are so few compared with F9 ones.
At the same time, A FH with Block V specs is a beast and can handle nearly every past DIVH mission and most missions ever conceived, except for some large payload missions to outer planets, given DIVH 2nd stage substantial ISP advantages. But nothing that couldn't be fixed by giving FH a high ISP/low thrust 3rd stage like a centaur.
BFR won't fly until 2021 or 2022. Its anything but about to replace FH.
Remember Elon is an eternal optimist. I'm just being a realist and applying the F9 v1.1 design time to BFR.
Its possible however that SpaceX will build a Raptor based upper stage for F9/FH, which would essentially kill FH as long as that upper stage is expended. This would likely be doable much faster than the whole BFR. And a Raptor based upper stage would have substantial performance left it could be able to be reusable, even when launched by a Block V F9 booster recovered by ASDS landing while putting a 5-6 ton payload to GTO.
Is FH going to launch this year? I'm betting it won't happen until February 2018 at the earliest. Zuma was stood down and there's been no reschedule yet. CRS-13 is *supposed* to launch from SLC-40, but I haven't heard anything to suggest SLC-40 was ready with only a week and a half to go. I wouldn't be surprised if CRS-13 is launched out of 39A, and if that's the case and spacex manages to meet the "2 months" timeline for finishing building up 39A for FH once 40 becomes available again, Hence, my guess at NET February.
List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches - Wikipedia
agrees: December 4, 2017, 19:52 SLC-40 SpaceX CRS-13
I'm not surprised if first FH launch is in February.
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