SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is about to become a workhorse for NASA
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is about to become a workhorse for NASA
"It’s an incredible capability for our nation. We’re fortunate to have it.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
There are two more Falcon Heavy bookings that SpaceX could use to launch resupply ships to the Gateway lunar station, perhaps in the late 2020s, although the status of those missions is unclear.
Despite being overtaken by the recent debuts of NASA's Space Launch System and SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket, the Falcon Heavy is still the world's most powerful operational commercial rocket, capable of hauling nearly 64 metric tons (more than 140,000 pounds) of cargo into low-Earth orbit a couple hundred miles up if SpaceX expended all three of the rocket's first-stage boosters.
New rockets, like United Launch Alliance's Vulcan and Blue Origin's New Glenn, will come closer to Falcon Heavy's lift capability, but both launchers are unproven.
ULA says it still has a chance to launch the first Vulcan test flight in December, and Blue Origin officials have said the New Glenn could debut next year.
If schedules hold, SpaceX could launch a ninth Falcon Heavy mission at the end of November with a classified payload for the Space Force.
Earlier this year, NASA engineers formally certified the Falcon Heavy rocket to launch the agency's most expensive robotic missions, according to Dunn.
The original article contains 803 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 76%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
5Go Falcon Heavy! Those launches are something else.
I hope we see a triple booster landing one day.
3- -4
My big worry about throwing all the missions at SpaceX is that SpaceX relies very strongly on venture capital and on StarLink (which itself relies strongly on subsidies and venture capital). Putting all your eggs into a single fragile basket doesn't seem like the wisest move
1True, but right now it’s the only option. There are things coming but they’re definitely not here yet and will likely be delayed, as is common in the industry. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are proven workhorses, and they work now. I’m sure NASA and Space Force wish this wasn’t the case but it’s all they have right now.
4Why? Let’s say they go bankrupt. Just nationalize it at a very reasonable price and move on. It’s not like the technology simply disappears.
4Does throwing missions at them not make them less reliant on it though? The more they are used, the more financially sound they are likely to be.
The opposite is probably true - by using spacex loads it means that their competitors are less able to fund their replacements. (Even if the encubants are all really bad)
4Who should we throw them at?
Think China will let us use a long march? Will Russia let us use a Proton?
2