SpaceX is preparing to launch a commercial satellite using the Falcon Heavy for the first time Wednesday.
Not yet.
Falcon Heavy was designed to carry extremely heavy satellites and other large payloads into orbit. Compared with SpaceX’s single-stick Falcon 9 rocket, which can carry up to 50,000 pounds to low-Earth orbit, the triple-booster Falcon Heavy can hoist a little less than 141,000 pounds, according to the company’s website.
The Starship spaceship and Super Heavy launch system eventually replaced Falcon Heavy as the vehicle of choice for a private SpaceX passenger mission around the moon that was originally announced in 2017. That mission, which will carryMusk told reporters last year that the company decided to “focus our future developments” on the Mars rocket and spaceship, which is intended to be fully reusable, and that it did not seem necessary to qualify Falcon Heavy for human spaceflight.
In the meantime, the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets are certified to launch lucrative national security satellites for the U.S. military. And while other companies, such as Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman Corp., are looking to enter national security competitions, their rockets are largely still a few years away.
Musk has said Starship and Super Heavy will be made of stainless steel so it will be lighter and not need as much heat shielding. And the system’s Raptor rocket engines will be powered by liquid oxygen and methane, which is a more unconventional fuel and different from the highly refined kerosene used by the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy’s Merlin engines.
NASA had intended to launch its Orion crew capsule to the moon and beyond on its Space Launch System rocket, which is being developed by Boeing Co. However, the SLS is over budget and behind schedule, leading Vice President Mike Pence to say during a National Space Council meeting last month that “He also opened the door for companies like SpaceX to take part in the moon mission, saying the administration was open to the idea of using commercial rockets to send U.S. astronauts to the moon.
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