First Falcon Heavy Rocket Expected to Launch by end of January

The three boosters making up the first stage of SpaceX's

(Photo: SpaceX via Florida Today)

SpaceX. Elon Musk. Colonizing Mars. Pretty much everybody at this point has heard the news stories, seen the “alien spaceship” traveling over Southern California a few weeks ago, and is in the loop when it comes to Elon Musk’s plans for commercializing space travel. Although the Falcon 9 rocket has been launched (and safely landed on aircraft carriers for reuse) many times to resupply the International Space Station, the next step in this groundbreaking era of space travel is the Falcon Heavy.

The Falcon Heavy is projected to make its debut test launch by the end of January, but the static test fire of its 27 rocket engines will occur sometime this week. When successful, the Falcon Heavy will be classified as the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of 2. Each rocket booster on the Falcon Heavy boasts 9 engines and produces over 5 million pounds of thrust (keep in mind, the Falcon Heavy has 3 of these boosters). There is only one launchpad that is capable of withstanding this immense thrust, 39-A at Kennedy Space Center, the same used by the enormous Saturn V rocket years ago.

This feat of engineering is obviously extremely risky, and even Musk himself said, “I hope it makes it far enough away from the pad that it doesn’t cause pad damage. I would consider even that a win, to be honest.” Although the Falcon 9 has launched and landed safely plenty of times, this rocket will be 3 times as powerful and just as, if not more unsafe for astronauts than the Challenger was. Though what would a debut launch be without making it a little interesting? Musk has announced, then retreated, and is back to claiming that his own personal red Tesla Roadster will be attached to the payload at the tip of Falcon Heavy and released into Mars’ orbit upon successful launch. This is obviously bizarre, but just think of how cool it would look to aliens if they happen to come across a bright red Tesla Roadster floating around Mars…I think it’s worth a shot.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2018/01/05/elon-musk-spacex-falcon-heavy-launch/1006599001/

https://www.cnet.com/news/spacex-falcon-heavy-static-fire-test-launch-elon-musk/

One thought on “First Falcon Heavy Rocket Expected to Launch by end of January

  1. The private companies investing in the space industry have clearly spurred innovation. There are multiple private companies competing in order to create rockets capable of bringing tourists to space. Another company, besides SpaceX, is Blue Origin. Both of these companies want to create an economy in space; considering how many successful rocket launches they’ve had, the time when people will be traveling to space as tourists is not far off.

    Blue Origin is also looking at a future where people will live on the moon. They have developed the New Glenn rocket which they plan to use to transport people as well as supplies to the moon regularly. SpaceX also has these inspirations with plans to build rockets capable of transporting people and cargo to both the moon and mars. As technology continues to advance, there will most likely be a number of other private companies trying to develop rockets for space travel and rovers to explore other planets.

    https://www.blueorigin.com/

    http://www.spacex.com/mars

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