SpaceX Falcon 9 Development Video Supercut
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At the new conference after the launch, Elon Musk seemed less than excited about the falcon heavy. He implied the complexity of flying and recovering three boosters may be two much. While Spacex will fly Falcon Heavy, I predict that it will fly few flights and will quickly be replaced by a raptor BFR which will be in announced in September. Blue Origin plans to build cores on the cape which can be wider cores which don’t have to fit under highway bridges. How/where does spacex plan to build their BFRs?? to complete with Blue Origins threat??
“How where does spacex plan to build their BFRs?? to complete with Blue Origins threat??”
The Texas launch facility.
BFR will launch from Texas? You have any sources on that?
With them only being allowed 10 launches per year there, I find that hard to believe.
I have no reason to think they are limited to 10 launches per year, much less that that is any limitation which will continue.
My understanding the beach can only be closed 10 times per year. Agreement when they purchased the property.
Isn’t it more to do with consideration with nearby sea traffic associated with Port Isabel just up the coast. Also, my iffy memory tells me it was 12 launches per year.
They may still go to Puerto Rico to enjoy the performance boost from the lower latitude. Surely the Cape is still the most likely venue though, albeit a new launch complex. Florida would be convenient for skilled workforce for manufacture, as well as launch and landing at the Cape.
The BFR will need a brand-new launch site. No existing site is large enough to handle it and the Boca Chica site in Texas isn’t designed for it.
Elon did give a throw-away line some time back that the first astronauts to Mars could conceivably launch from Texas – though unlikely he was fully serious.
There is apparently no longer any crossfeed of propellants anymore.
Hm, haven’t heard that before.
Will this affect the currently advertised maximum payload capacity of 53 metric tonnes to LEO?
EDIT:
Doing some research I found this bit that was also new to me:
“As it adopts the new-version Falcon 9 and prepares for the inaugural flight — still scheduled for late this year — of its Falcon Heavy rocket, SpaceX wants to limit its production line to two versions of the rocket’s core.
“Falcon Heavy is two different cores — the inner core and the two side sticks,” Shotwell said. “The new Falcon 9 will basically be a Falcon Heavy side booster. So we’re building [only two different] cores to make sure we don’t have a bunch of configurations around the factory so we can streamline operations and hit a launch cadence of one or two a month from every launch site we have.””
source: http://spacenews.com/spacex…
I didn’t know that the FH will be basically a F9 1.1 center core and 2 F9 “Full Thrust” boosters. I thought for ease of manufacturing all cores of the FH would be more or less the same?
The center core of the Falcon Heavy will be based on the Falcon 9 v1.2 (so much easier to call it that), however, it will have all the side booster attachment hardware on it, so it will be a slightly different variant.
The greater payload capacity of the Falcon 9 v1.2 means that even without crossfeed it will most likely be capable of sending payloads in excess of 53 tonnes to LEO, in expendable mode anyway, and some estimates have been that it could be close to 70 tonnes. I don’t think it will ever approach in practice that since I strongly doubt the cores will ever be expended.
The center core will also be beefed up, as will the FH version of the 2nd stage, in order to carry the heavier payloads of the FH vs. the F9. Even with this extra “beef” though, I suspect the FH, based on F9 v1.2, will still be good for well over 53 tonnes to LEO. SpaceX is overdue putting out new payload figures for FH as well as in actually launching the rocket.
Being at the cape watching the crew unload the barge and prep the booster to go horizontal. Made me realize that if you really want affordable access to space you need a bigger wider booster the returns to the launch sight and sets right down over the flame trench, the vehicle must be wide enough to not need a strong back you protect your fueling tanks incase you have a return crash. You make your lightening protection retractable. And you vertically integrated your second stage and payloads with a removable structure.
Launch land repeat
Go big has Jeff bezo said
BFR has been replaced with MCT and MCS. FH is the old BFR. FH will lift any commercial payloads that F9R can’t do.
Cheers
Any art work as to what MCT and MCS may look like?
Enjoy.
That capsule as the second stage represents the Mars Transporter?
I believe the plan is to land the whole thing. Here’s more from Spaceflight Insider:
A booster will launch a second stage Mars-bound “transporter” spaceship with 100 metric tons of payload towards low-Earth orbit and then return back to the launch site. The transporter will burn all of its fuel to reach orbit.
A booster will launch a second “tanker” spaceship towards Earth orbit and then return to the launch site.
The tanker will rendezvous with and transfer fuel to the transporter.
The tanker will undock and perform a series of reentry burns to return to the launch site.
Steps 2–4 will be repeated 2 or more times to fully refuel the transporter.
At the proper moment, the transporter will perform a trans-Mars injection burn that will put it on a transfer orbit toward Mars.
As it approaches Mars, the transporter will perform a series of precision Mars entry burns to land at the desired destination.
The transporter will offload the payload to the surface.
The transporter will refuel from a Mars fuel production plant.
At the right moment, the transporter will launch from the Martian surface and perform a trans-Earth injection burn that will put it on a transfer orbit back toward Earth.
As it approaches Earth it will perform a series of precision reentry burns to land at the launch site.
Read more at http://www.spaceflightinsid…
I would guess that with 2 raptor engines, that is the part that would land on Mars and use the atmosphere to help it make fuel then return to earth orbit. The capsule would just be a giant Dragon with mars launch escape capability. Obviously the earth launcher isn’tpictured here.
Musk has said that the earth launcher will have many raptor engines. Like more than 27. He said that at first he figured it would just be a giant falcon Heavy but now figured it would be a single core.
I agree with PK Sink’s post below.
Musk says FH will be around 5,000,000 lbs. of thrust and Shotwell has said that the fully reusable CH4 powered fully reusable launch system beyond F9/FH will be “about 3 to 4 times FH”, so 15-20 million lbs., which corresponds to 30 to 40 Raptors on the first stage. The second stage is needed to reach LEO, so it is a little unreasonable to expect that stage to be MCT, since it would have to escape Earth, then retain enough fuel for supersonic retro propulsion and landing at Mars for both a 100 tonne payload and the rocket itself. Also, as mentioned before Musk and Shotwell have described BFR as fully reusable, so both the first and second stages will land back on Earth.
Elon’s previous mention of MCT is that it would fuel in Earth orbit, not land on Earth. Obviously, landing and launching on Mars is a much simpler task. BFR is the fully reusable super-heavy launch vehicle to lift large payloads (including MCT and it’s fuel) to orbit. He also hoped for first test flight around 2020-21.
2021? 🙂
So this September marks another SpaceX 5 year Plan
Just like the old Stalin days
I think you’ve got that backwards. “MCT” is the whole system, consisting of two components which Musk nicknamed “BFR” (the booster stage) and “BFS” (the upper-stage & Mars-lander).
FH has never been “BFR”. BFR was always the next big rocket. (Falcon X in the old parlance.)
I think that Elon Musk will build a factory for the construction of large-diameter rockets alongside the river (canal, lake or on seacoast). And I think he will do it in the new program of cargo delivery to the ISS (CRS-2).
ex-NAS Alameda
Oil rig sea launch