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Update: Launch seems to have been successful. The two side boosters landed nearly simultaneously. Footage from the drone ship was cut off. The car made it into space; but the third stage will need to coast through the Van Allen radiation belts for around six hours before it makes the final burn for trans-Mars injection.
Update 2: The middle booster of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket failed to land on its drone ship
Falcon Heavy Post-Launch Media Briefing - Megathread
SpaceX's newest rocket, the Falcon Heavy, is set to be launched at around 1:30 PM EST (6:30 PM UTC) today. The launch window extends to 4:00 PM EST (9:00 PM UTC).
SpaceX will attempt to recover all three boosters during the launch. The two previously-flown side boosters will attempt to land nearly simultaneously at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Landing Zones 1 and 2. The center core will attempt to land on a drone barge hundreds of miles off the coast of Florida.
The dummy payload for the Falcon Heavy is Elon Musk's personal 2008 Tesla Roadster. It is carrying a mannequin wearing SpaceX's space suit flight suit that will be used when the company begins to send astronauts to the International Space Station. The car will be launched into a heliocentric orbit that will bring it close to Mars (and back near Earth) periodically, and is equipped with three cameras. Its stereo system will be playing David Bowie's Space Oddity.
If the launch is successful, the Falcon Heavy could be flown within the next 3 to 6 months for a customer such as the U.S. Air Force, Arabsat, Inmarsat, or ViaSat.
Falcon Heavy will be capable of launching 63,800 kg to low-Earth orbit (LEO), 26,700 kg to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), 16,800 kg to Mars, or 3,500 kg to Pluto (New Horizons was 478 kg). It will supplant the Delta IV Heavy, which is capable of launching 28,790 kg to LEO or 14,220 kg to GTO. Space Launch System Block 1 will be capable of launching 70,000 kg to LEO (Block 1B: 105,000 kg to LEO, Block 2: 130,000 kg to LEO).
Musk has suggested that an additional two side boosters could be added to Falcon Heavy (perpendicularly?) to make a "Falcon Super Heavy" with even more thrust. This may not happen if SpaceX decides to focus on the BFR instead, which as planned would be able to launch 150,000 kg to LEO while being fully reusable and potentially cheaper than the Falcon 9 (or capable of launching 250,000 kg to LEO in expendable mode).
The webcast can be seen here or directly on YouTube.
- BBC: Elon Musk's huge Falcon Heavy rocket set for launch
- CNN: SpaceX Falcon Heavy: Everything you need to know
- Bloomberg: Musk Sets a Low Bar for SpaceX Launch
- Space.com: Is the Tesla Roadster Flying on the Falcon Heavy's Maiden Flight Just Space Junk?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday February 06 2018, @02:40PM (11 children)
I wouldn't worry about that one iota. United Launch Alliance will always have a seat at the table because the U.S. Air Force wants redundant capabilities, and because Congressmen like pork. We'll be extremely lucky if even the SLS pork rocket gets cancelled.
As for the world, countries like China will want to develop their own reusable rocket [atimes.com] capabilities [futurism.com] to ensure they can launch military payloads. I'd expect the same from India, which already launches cheap rockets [wikipedia.org]. In fact, once it becomes clear what needs to be copied from SpaceX, expect nearly all launch providers to attempt rocket landings.
SpaceX with reusable BFRs is most likely to hurt smaller private companies like Blue Origin and Rocket Lab that don't have the proven capabilities or pork connections that ULA has. Arianespace could be hurt since EU nations fund it and are wary of dumping too much of their own money into a noncompetitive rocket that hasn't flown yet (Ariane 6 [wikipedia.org]). I'm more optimistic about Virgin Galactic and Reaction Engines Limited (Skylon [wikipedia.org]) which are more focused on space tourism and spaceplanes. Rockets are great and the BFR would be the best thing since sliced bread, but casual tourists don't need to go much further than LEO and we want Star Wars style single-stage-to-orbit vehicles (which could also be reusable and very cheap in $/kg).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Funny) by Freeman on Tuesday February 06 2018, @05:15PM (1 child)
Watch out for India though, I hear they can be a bit aggressive. https://www.geek.com/games/why-gandhi-is-always-a-warmongering-jerk-in-civilization-1608515/ [geek.com]
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday February 06 2018, @11:11PM
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday February 06 2018, @06:18PM (4 children)
And
I know the air force wants big rockets, but they should be the ones flirting with the Virgin.
With a little work, and lots of money, a scaled up Virgin could be runway to orbit in less than 30 minutes, and put spy satellites into any orbit you'd want.
Runway to orbit makes more sense than keeping a rocket fueled and on hold for weeks.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 06 2018, @06:32PM
That ain't how it works.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday February 06 2018, @08:29PM (2 children)
Only 30 minutes, eh? Whatever. Just wear protection, wrap up that docking port. In the movies its cool when the orbital assembly structure squirts out a starship after months of growth, but in reality its a lot of work and starship captains traditionally (at least in fiction) require a lot of babysitting and oversight or else they run off the rails ("Young man, if all your friends broke the prime directive, would you break the prime directive too? And while you're at it, get off my space-grass lawn.")
MAIDEN flights, VIRGIN galactic, what is with all this aerospace slut-shaming? A girl should be able to rendezvous at any universal docking port she consents to verbally and in writing.
(Score: 1) by jelizondo on Tuesday February 06 2018, @09:33PM (1 child)
Given the current state of affairs, it should be in writing and with at least two witnesses :-/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 06 2018, @10:32PM
A rocket needs to be able to launch to a station, receive a payload, land back on earth, and only then if it so chooses decide the payload received was done so without consent.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 06 2018, @10:00PM (3 children)
How many casual tourists can a single BFR
roastferry to LEO at one time?🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday February 06 2018, @10:29PM (2 children)
Probably several hundred people, vs. just 100 for a journey to Mars.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elon-musk-bfr-travel_us_59cddc0ae4b05f005d33550a [huffingtonpost.com]
Much less cargo for a manned mission only going to LEO instead of Mars.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday February 07 2018, @12:08AM (1 child)
That sounds like the basis of a practical bubble hotel, 72 hours on-orbit for $50K/head?
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/10/spacex-bfr-to-be-lower-cost-than-falcon-1-at-7-million-per-launch.html [nextbigfuture.com]
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 07 2018, @05:37PM
all I am saying is that for $50k, that virginal maiden better give great head.
wait what do you mean that's not what you meant? i wanted to be part of the totally high club, but nooo