SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Rocket Update: First Stage Cores Testing Complete
The three first stage cores of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket have completed testing. The company took to social media to break the news and share a clip of one of the tests.
CEO Elon Musk intends to launch the rocket in November and it is looking like SpaceX is making serious progress and is keen on making the deadline.
This milestone is a big deal since the first stage cores of the Falcon Heavy are crucial to the whole plan, considering they serve as the components that will ignite and launch the SpaceX rocket into space.
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The first stage of the rocket includes a trio of Falcon 9 nine-engine cores with 27 Merlin engines that churn out five million pounds of thrust at liftoff, which is equal to approximately 18 747 aircraft.
Musk hopes that the Falcon Heavy will pave the way for them to be able to bring humans into space and become instrumental to flying missions with crew to planet Mars or the Moon.
The Falcon Heavy is an upgrade of the Falcon 9 rockets both in size and capacity. Musk and his team aim it to be "the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two."
Here is what the Falcon Heavy is about as per the official website for the SpaceX rocket:
With the ability to lift into orbit over 54 metric tons (119,000 lb) — a mass equivalent to a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel — Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost. Falcon Heavy draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9.
Despite the promising tests, Musk admitted back in July that there is a good chance that the Falcon Heavy will fail. He even tweeted out the many times they messed up while testing it, promising to release a "blooper reel."
At the ISS R&D conference, Musk said of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket:
There's a real good chance that it does not make it to orbit. I hope it gets far enough away from the launch pad that it does not cause pad damage — I would consider that a win.
