Nearly one year ago, SpaceX made history by becoming the first company to launch a car into space. On February 6, 2018, a cherry-red Tesla Roadster hitched a ride on top of a Falcon Heavy rocket, during its inaugural flight. This March, the rocket is going to head up there once again, this time carrying more conventional cargo.
The Falcon Heavy will be deployed by SpaceX as a means to deliver to orbit a Saudi Arabian communications satellite operated by Arabsat. According to Ars Technica, SpaceX is targeting a March 7 launch date for this mission, but that is subject to change depending on a number of factors.
This second launch of the Falcon Heavy, together with the subsequent landings of the side boosters and core, will mark yet another important step toward achieving the true purpose of the Heavy, a mission to the Moon and possibly Mars.
In terms of size, the Falcon Heavy is close to the biggest rocket ever made by man, the Saturn V - albeit it has a tad smaller payload capacity than the iconic rocket of old - and at the same time the most powerful rocket available today. It can generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, or as much as eighteen 747 aircraft starting their engines at the same time.
Falcon Heavy is comprised of three main cores, each powered by a cluster of nine Merlin engines, the same as the ones deployed on the Falcon 9.
All those engine cores are the so-called Stage 1. The side cores, also known as boosters, are connected with the center core’s liquid oxygen tank. After liftoff, the side boosters separate.
The second stage comprises a Falcon 9-sourced Merlin engine that is be used to deliver payloads into a variety of orbits including low Earth, geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) and geosynchronous orbit (GSO).
This second launch of the Falcon Heavy, together with the subsequent landings of the side boosters and core, will mark yet another important step toward achieving the true purpose of the Heavy, a mission to the Moon and possibly Mars.
In terms of size, the Falcon Heavy is close to the biggest rocket ever made by man, the Saturn V - albeit it has a tad smaller payload capacity than the iconic rocket of old - and at the same time the most powerful rocket available today. It can generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, or as much as eighteen 747 aircraft starting their engines at the same time.
Falcon Heavy is comprised of three main cores, each powered by a cluster of nine Merlin engines, the same as the ones deployed on the Falcon 9.
All those engine cores are the so-called Stage 1. The side cores, also known as boosters, are connected with the center core’s liquid oxygen tank. After liftoff, the side boosters separate.
The second stage comprises a Falcon 9-sourced Merlin engine that is be used to deliver payloads into a variety of orbits including low Earth, geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) and geosynchronous orbit (GSO).