Engineering news
The Falcon Heavy, which is due to launch in November, is much bigger than the company’s commercial rockets so far, and will be able to launch up 140,000 pounds of cargo into orbit.
When it launches, it will become the world’s most powerful rocket, with 27 engines igniting simultaneously. It can lift more than twice as much as the next closest vehicle, at a third of the cost, according to SpaceX.
The first stage cores provide the initial thrust to lift the cargo off the ground, and then fall away as the spacecraft leaves Earth’s atmosphere. Unlike previous boosters employed by Nasa for the space shuttle, it’s hoped that these booster rockets will be able to be re-used by landing them on earth.
SpaceX’s smaller Falcon 9 rocket – three of which are strapped together to make up the Falcon Heavy – has successfully demonstrated this technology.
The Falcon Heavy has been delayed several times. In 2011, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said its first flight would be in 2013, but that has been steadily bumped back. The November date was announced by Musk in July this year.
The Falcon Heavy is an integral part of Musk’s ambitious plans to build a self-sustaining city on Mars, but he struck a note of caution at a conference earlier this year. "There's a lot of risk associated with Falcon Heavy, a real good chance that that vehicle does not make it to orbit,” he said at the International Space Station Research and Development Conference in Washington DC in July.
“I want to make sure to set expectations accordingly. I hope it makes it far enough beyond the pad so that it does not cause pad damage. I would consider even that a win, to be honest.”