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SpaceX just sold the US Air Force the cheapest enormous rocket it's ever bought
SpaceX has won its first contract to launch a classified military satellite on its Falcon Heavy rocket, beating out rival United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
The launch contract will cost the US Air Force $130 million, far less than the $350 million average cost of United Launch Alliance's Delta IV, previously the heaviest lifter in the US arsenal. SpaceX's disruptive business model has proven itself in the national security arena, where it has won five previous contracts since its rockets were certified to fly military missions.
The US Air Force decision signals confidence in the engineering behind the new rocket, which consists of three modified Falcon 9 cores strapped together and flew for the first time in February 2018 after seven years of development and testing.
Also at Ars Technica and Space News.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday June 22 2018, @08:47PM (1 child)
There are multiple configurations, such as the fuel tanker. Maybe they will optimize one for LEO only.
Also I say ~150 tons because the rumor mill thinks the vehicle height and payload capacity will be boosted a little bit.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday June 22 2018, @08:58PM
Yes there are, but they are seemingly all build on basically the same "rocket" base (fuel tank size notwithstanding)
Hmm, Wikipedia says the BFR was unveiled in September 2017 - I could have sworn the name had been tossed around for much longer than that, but if not then the ITS/BFR transition may indeed be what I was thinking of - it was late last year when the major down-scaling was announced.