Falcon Heavy — BrandWiki

Falcon Heavy

Overview

Falcon Heavy

function	Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
manufacturer	SpaceX
country-origin	United States
cpl	Reusable: US$97 million (2022)‡R1R‡ Expendable: US$150 million (2017)‡R2R‡
height	229.6 ft‡R3R‡
diameter	3.7 m (each booster)
width	12.2 m
mass

Falcon Heavy is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle with partial reusability that can carry cargo into Earth orbit and beyond. It is designed, manufactured and launched by American aerospace company SpaceX.

The rocket consists of a center core on which two Falcon 9 boosters are attached, and a second stage on top of the center core. Falcon Heavy has the second highest payload capacity of any currently operational launch vehicle behind NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), and the fourth-highest capacity of any rocket to reach orbit, trailing behind the SLS, Energia and the Saturn V.

SpaceX conducted Falcon Heavy's maiden launch on February 6, 2018, at 20:45 UTC. As a dummy payload, the rocket carried a Tesla Roadster belonging to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, with a mannequin dubbed "Starman" in the driver's seat.[6]

stages	2.5

derived from	Falcon 9

payloads	Arabsat-6A Boeing X-37B EchoStar XXIV Europa Clipper GOES-19 Psyche Dragonfly (Titan space probe)

comparable	Delta IV Heavy New Glenn NGLV Vulcan Centaur

status	Active

sites	Kennedy, LC-39A Vandenberg, SLC-6 (future)

launches	11

success	11

landings	Cores: 1 / 3 attempts Boosters: 16 / 16 attempts

first	February 6, 2018 (test flight)

last	October 14, 2024 (Europa Clipper, most recent)

payload-location	Inside fairing at top of second stage

family	Falcon 9 Vehicle Family

History

Concepts for a Falcon Heavy launch vehicle using three Falcon 1 core boosters, with an approximate payload-to-LEO capacity of two tons,[11] were initially discussed as early as 2003.[12] The concept for three core booster stages of the company's then as-yet-unflown Falcon 9 was referred to in 2005 as the Falcon 9 Heavy.[13]

SpaceX unveiled the plan for the Falcon Heavy to the public at a Washington, D.C., news conference in April 2011, with an initial test flight expected in 2013.[14]

A number of factors delayed the planned maiden flight to 2018, including two anomalies with Falcon 9 launch vehicles, which required all engineering resources to be dedicated to failure analysis, halting flight operations for many months. The integration and structural challenges of combining three Falcon 9 cores were more difficult than expected.[15]

In July 2017, Elon Musk said, "It actually ended up being way harder to do Falcon Heavy than we thought. ... We were pretty naive about that".[16]

The initial test flight for the first Falcon Heavy lifted off on February 6, 2018, at 20:45 UTC, carrying its dummy payload, Elon Musk's personal Tesla Roadster, beyond Mars orbit.[17]

Conception and funding

Musk first mentioned Falcon Heavy in a September 2005 news update, referring to a customer request from 18 months prior.[18] Various solutions using the planned Falcon 5 (which was never flown) had been explored, but the only cost-effective, reliable iteration was one that used a 9-engine first stage—the Falcon 9. The Falcon Heavy was developed using private capital with Musk stating that the cost was more than US$500 million. No government financing was provided for its development.[19]

Design and development

The Falcon Heavy design is based on Falcon 9's fuselage and engines. By 2008, SpaceX had been aiming for the first launch of Falcon 9 in 2009, while "Falcon 9 Heavy would be in a couple of years". Speaking at the 2008 Mars Society Conference, Musk also indicated that he expected a hydrogen-fueled upper stage would follow two to three years later (which would have been around 2013).[20]

Design

Falcon Heavy consists of a structurally strengthened Falcon 9 as the "core" component, with two additional Falcon 9 first stages with aerodynamic nose-cones mounted outboard serving as strap-on boosters,[61] conceptually similar to the Delta IV Heavy launcher and proposals for the Atlas V Heavy and Russian Angara A5V. This triple first stage carries a standard Falcon 9 second stage, which in turn carries the payload in a fairing. Falcon Heavy has the second highest lift capability of any operational rocket, with a payload of 63800 kg to low Earth orbit, 26700 kg to Geostationary Transfer Orbit, and 16800 kg to trans-Mars injection.[62] The rocket was designed to meet or exceed all current requirements of human rating. The structural safety margins are 40% above flight loads, higher than the 25% margins of other rockets.[63] Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and it would restore the possibility of flying crewed missions to the Moon or Mars.[3]

The first stage is powered by three Falcon 9 derived cores, each equipped with nine Merlin 1D engines. The Falcon Heavy has a total sea-level thrust at liftoff of 2327 t-f, from the 27 Merlin 1D engines, while thrust rises to 2517 t-f as the craft climbs out of the atmosphere.[3] The upper stage is powered by a single Merlin 1D engine modified for vacuum operation, with a thrust of 95.2 t-f, an expansion ratio of 117:1 and a nominal burn time of 397 seconds. At launch, the center core throttles to full power for a few seconds for additional thrust, then throttles down. This allows a longer burn time. After the side boosters separate, the center core throttles back up to maximum thrust. For added reliability of restart, the engine has dual redundant pyrophoric igniters (Triethylaluminium-Triethylborane) (TEA-TEB).[61] The interstage, which connects the upper and lower stage for Falcon 9, is a carbon fiber aluminum core composite structure. Stage separation occurs via reusable separation collets and a pneumatic pusher system. The Falcon 9 tank walls and domes are made from Aluminum–lithium alloy. SpaceX uses an all-friction stir welded tank. The second stage tank of Falcon 9 is simply a shorter version of the first stage tank and uses most of the same tooling, material, and manufacturing techniques. This approach reduces manufacturing costs during vehicle production.[61]

All three cores of the Falcon Heavy arrange the engines in a structural form SpaceX calls Octaweb, aimed at streamlining the manufacturing process,[64] and each core includes four extensible landing legs.[65] To control the descent of the boosters and center core through the atmosphere, SpaceX uses four retractable grid fins at the top of each of the three Falcon 9 boosters, which extend after separation.[66] Immediately after the side boosters separate, three engines in each continue to burn for a few seconds in order to control the booster's trajectory safely away from the rocket.[65][67] The grid fins then deploy as the boosters turn back to Earth, followed by the extending of the landing legs. The side boosters land softly on the ground in fully/partially reusable launch configuration. The center core continues to fire until stage separation. In fully reusable launches, its grid fins and legs deploy and the center core touches down on a drone ship. If boosters are to be expended, then the landing legs and grid fins are omitted from the vehicle. The landing legs are made of carbon fiber with an aluminum honeycomb structure. The four legs stow along the sides of each core during liftoff and extend outward and down just before landing.

Capabilities

The partially reusable Falcon Heavy falls into the heavy-lift range of launch systems, capable of lifting 20 - 50 t into low Earth orbit (LEO), under the classification system used by a NASA human spaceflight review panel.[72] A fully expendable Falcon Heavy is in the super heavy-lift category with a maximum payload of 64 t to LEO.

The initial concept (Falcon 9-S9 2005) envisioned payloads of 24.75 t to LEO, but by April 2011 this was projected to be up to 53 t with geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) payloads up to 12 t. Later reports in 2011 projected higher payloads beyond LEO, including 19 t to GTO,[73] 16 t to translunar trajectory, and 14 t on a trans-Martian orbit to Mars.[74][75]

By late 2013, SpaceX raised the projected GTO payload for Falcon Heavy to 21.2 t.[76]

In April 2017, the projected LEO payload for Falcon Heavy was raised from 54.4 to 63.8 t. The maximum payload is achieved when the rocket flies a fully expendable launch profile, not recovering any of the three first-stage boosters.[1] With just the core booster expended, and two side-boosters recovered, Musk estimates the payload penalty to be around 10%, which would still yield over 57 t of lift capability to LEO.[77] Returning all three boosters to the launch site rather than landing them on drone ships would yield about 30 t of payload to LEO.[78]

Reusability

From 2013 to 2016, SpaceX conducted parallel development of a reusable rocket architecture for Falcon 9, that applies to parts of Falcon Heavy as well. Early on, SpaceX had expressed hopes that all rocket stages would eventually be reusable.[79] SpaceX has since demonstrated routine land and sea recovery of the Falcon 9 first stage, and has successfully recovered multiple payload fairings.[80][81] In the case of Falcon Heavy, the two outer cores separate from the rocket earlier in the flight, and are thus moving at a lower velocity than in a Falcon 9 launch profile.[68] For the first flight of Falcon Heavy, SpaceX had considered attempting to recover the second stage,[82]

Launch prices

At an appearance in May 2004 before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Musk testified, "Long term plans call for development of a heavy lift product and even a super-heavy, if there is customer demand. We expect that each size increase would result in a meaningful decrease in cost per pound to orbit. ... Ultimately, I believe US$500 per pound or less is very achievable".[87] This 1100 $/kg goal stated by Musk in 2011 is 35% of the cost of the lowest-cost-per-pound LEO-capable launch system in a 2001 study: the Zenit, a medium-lift launch vehicle that could carry 14 t into LEO for US$35–50 million.[88] In 2011, SpaceX stated that the cost of reaching low Earth orbit could be as low as 2200 $/kg if an annual rate of four launches can be sustained, and as of 2011 planned to eventually launch as many as 10 Falcon Heavies and 10 Falcon 9s annually.[74]

The published prices for Falcon Heavy launches have changed as development progressed, with announced prices for the various versions of Falcon Heavy priced at US$80–125 million in 2011,[89] US$83–128 million in 2012,[90] US$77–135 million in 2013,[91] US$85 million for up to 6.4 t to GTO in 2014, US$90 million for up to 8 t to GTO in 2016.[92]

From 2017 to early 2022, the price has been stated at US$150 million for 63.8 t to LEO or 26.7 t to GTO (fully expendable).[93] This equates to a price of US$2,350 per kg to LEO and US$5,620 per kg to GTO. In 2022, the published price for a reusable launch was $97 million.[94] In 2022 NASA contracted with SpaceX to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on a Falcon Heavy for approximately $255 million, including launch service and other mission related costs.[95]

The nearest competing U.S. rocket was United Launch Alliance's Delta IV Heavy with a LEO payload capacity of 28.4 t costs US$12,340 per kg to LEO and US$24,630 per kg to GTO.[96] The Delta IV Heavy was retired in 2024.

Competitors from 2024 onwards may include Blue Origin's New Glenn (45 t to LEO), Relativity Space's Terran R (34 t to LEO), and United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur (27 t to LEO). From late 2025 onwards, the SpaceX Starship (100+ t to LEO) may also be included.

Launches and payloads

Due to improvements to the performance of Falcon 9, some of the heavier satellites flown to GTO, such as Intelsat 35e [97] and Inmarsat-5 F4,[98] were launched before the debut of Falcon Heavy. SpaceX anticipated the first commercial Falcon Heavy launch would be three to six months after a successful maiden flight,[99][100] but due to delays, the first commercial payload, Arabsat-6A was successfully launched on April 11, 2019, a year and two months after the first flight. SpaceX hoped to have 10 launches every year from 2021 on,[101] but there were no launches in 2020 or 2021.

Future launches

First commercial contracts

In May 2012, SpaceX announced that Intelsat had signed the first commercial contract for a Falcon Heavy flight. It was not confirmed at the time when the first Intelsat launch would occur, but the agreement had SpaceX delivering satellites to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).[182][183] In August 2016, it emerged that this Intelsat contract had been reassigned to a Falcon 9 Full Thrust mission to deliver Intelsat 35e into orbit in the third quarter of 2017.[184] Performance improvements of the Falcon 9 vehicle family since the 2012 announcement, advertising 8.3 t to GTO for its expendable flight profile,[185] enabled the launch of this 6 t satellite without upgrading to a Falcon Heavy variant.

Department of Defense contracts

In December 2012, SpaceX announced its first Falcon Heavy launch contract with the United States Department of Defense (DoD). The United States Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded SpaceX two Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)-class missions, including the Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission for Falcon Heavy, originally scheduled to be launched in March 2017,[190][191] to be placed at a near circular orbit at an altitude of 700 km, with an inclination of 70.0°.[192]

In April 2015, SpaceX sent the U.S. Air Force an updated letter of intent outlining a certification process for its Falcon Heavy rocket to launch national security satellites. The process included three successful flights of the Falcon Heavy including two consecutive successful flights, and the letter stated that Falcon Heavy can be ready to fly national security payloads by 2017.[193] But in July 2017, SpaceX announced that the first test flight would take place in December 2017, pushing the second launch (Space Test Program 2) to June 2018.

Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission

The payload for the STP-2 mission of the Department of Defense included 25 small spacecraft from the U.S. military, NASA, and research institutions:[196]

The Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) was a payload; it is a project partly developed by the U.S. Air Force to demonstrate a less-toxic propellant.[117][197]

Another secondary payload is the miniaturized Deep Space Atomic Clock that is expected to facilitate autonomous navigation.[198] The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) has a mass of 500 kg and will measure the effects of very low frequency radio waves on space radiation.[196] The British 'Orbital Test Bed' payload is hosting several commercial and military experiments.

NASA contracts

Solar System transport missions

In 2011, NASA Ames Research Center proposed a Mars mission called Red Dragon that would use a Falcon Heavy as the launch vehicle and trans-Martian injection vehicle, and a variant of the Dragon capsule to enter the Martian atmosphere. The proposed science objectives were to detect biosignatures and to drill approximately 1 m underground, in an effort to sample reservoirs of water ice known to exist under the surface. The mission cost as of 2011 was projected to be less than US$425 million, not including the launch cost.[201] SpaceX 2015 estimation was 2000–4000 kg to the surface of Mars, with a soft retropropulsive landing following a limited atmospheric deceleration using a parachute and heat shield.[202] Beyond the Red Dragon concept, SpaceX was seeing potential for Falcon Heavy and Dragon 2 to carry science payloads across much of the Solar System, particularly to Jupiter's moon Europa.[202]

Solar System transport missions

Psyche, Europa Clipper, and Dragonfly

NASA chose Falcon Heavy as the launch vehicle for its Psyche mission to a metallic asteroid; it launched on October 13, 2023.[204] The contract was worth US$117 million.[205][206][207]

Europa Clipper was initially targeted to be launched on an SLS rocket. However, due to extensive delays, in 2021 NASA awarded the launch contract to SpaceX for a fully expendable Falcon Heavy.[208] It launched on October 14, 2024.[209]

Dragonfly, a rotorcraft mission to Saturn's moon Titan

Maiden flight

In April 2011, Musk was planning for a first launch of Falcon Heavy from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on the United States west coast in 2013.[21][28] SpaceX refurbished Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg AFB to accommodate Falcon 9 and Heavy. The first launch from the Cape Canaveral, Florida east coast launch complex was planned for late 2013 or 2014.[29]

Due partly to the failure of SpaceX CRS-7 in June 2015, SpaceX rescheduled the maiden Falcon Heavy flight in September 2015 to occur no earlier than April 2016.[30] The flight was to be launched from the refurbished Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A.[31][32] The flight was postponed again to late 2016, early 2017,[33] summer 2017,[34] late 2017[35] and finally to February 2018.[36]

At a July 2017 meeting of the International Space Station Research and Development meeting in Washington, D.C., Musk downplayed expectations for the success of the maiden flight: "There's a real good chance the vehicle won't make it to orbit ... I hope it makes it far enough away from the pad that it does not cause pad damage. I would consider even that a win, to be honest.[16]"

In December 2017, Musk tweeted that the dummy payload on the maiden Falcon Heavy launch would be his personal Tesla Roadster playing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" (though the song actually used for the launch was "Life on Mars"), and that it would be launched into an orbit around the Sun that will reach the orbit of Mars.[37][38] He released pictures in the following days.[39] The car had three cameras attached to provide "epic views".[6]

On December 28, 2017, the Falcon Heavy was moved to the launch pad in preparation of a static fire test of all 27 engines, which was expected on January 19, 2018.[40] However, due to the U.S. government partial shutdown that began on January 20, 2018, the testing and launch were further delayed.[41] The static fire test was conducted on January 24, 2018.[42][43] Musk confirmed via Twitter that the test "was good" and later announced the rocket would be launched on February 6, 2018.[44]

On February 6, 2018, after a delay of over two hours due to high winds,[45] Falcon Heavy lifted off at 20:45 UTC.[17] Its side boosters landed safely on Landing Zones 1 and 2 a few minutes later.[46] However, only one of the three engines on the center booster that were intended to restart ignited during descent, causing the booster to be destroyed upon impacting the ocean at a speed of over 480 km/h.[47][48]

Initially, Elon Musk tweeted that the Roadster had overshot its planned heliocentric orbit, and would reach the asteroid belt. Later, observations by telescopes showed that the Roadster would only slightly exceed the orbit of Mars at aphelion.[49]

Later flights

A year after the successful demo flight, SpaceX had signed five commercial contracts worth US$500–750 million, meaning that it had managed to cover the development cost of the rocket.[50] The second flight, and first commercial one, occurred on April 11, 2019,[51] launching Arabsat-6A, with all three boosters landing successfully for the first time.

The third flight occurred on June 25, 2019, launching the STP-2 (U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program) payload.[51] The payload was composed of 25 small spacecraft. Operational Geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) missions for Intelsat and Inmarsat, which were planned for late 2017, were moved to the Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket version as it had become powerful enough to lift those heavy payloads in its expendable configuration. In June 2022, the U.S. Space Force certified Falcon Heavy for launching its top secret satellites, with the first such launch being USSF-44 which happened at November 1, 2022;[52] and the second of which being USSF-67,[53] which was launched 11 weeks after USSF-44. ViaSat selected the Falcon Heavy in late 2018 for the launch of its ViaSat-3 satellite which was scheduled to launch in the 2020–2022 timeframe;[54] however it would not launch until May 1, 2023.[55] On October 13, 2023, Falcon Heavy embarked on its 8th flight carrying NASA's Psyche probe to the asteroid 16 Psyche. This mission only had the side boosters return to Earth with the center core expended, a decision made to create more tolerable margins for the mission.

Following the announcement of NASA's Artemis program of returning humans to the Moon, the Falcon Heavy rocket has been mentioned several times as an alternative to the expensive Space Launch System (SLS) program, but NASA decided to exclusively use SLS to launch the Orion capsule.[56][57] However, Falcon Heavy will support commercial missions for the Artemis program,[58] since it will be used to transport the Dragon XL spacecraft to the Lunar Gateway. It was also selected to launch the first two elements of the Lunar Gateway, the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), on a single launch no earlier than 2025,[59]

Falcon Heavy

History

Conception and funding

Design and development

Design

Rocket specifications

Capabilities

Reusability

Launch prices

Launches and payloads

Future launches

First commercial contracts

Department of Defense contracts

Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission

NASA contracts

Solar System transport missions

Solar System transport missions

Psyche, Europa Clipper, and Dragonfly

Gallery

See also

External links

References

Testing

Maiden flight

Later flights

Propellant crossfeed

Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission

Psyche, Europa Clipper, and Dragonfly