Easy path "heavy falcon"

On February 6, 2018, Falcon Heavy has successfully started. Her cargo was sent towards Mars and became a man -made asteroid in heliocentric orbit. The most spectacular shots are the synchronous planting of two side segments of the first stage on special sites of the Cosmodrome at Cape Kanveral.

Falcon Heavy is more than two times higher than the most lifting missile of the now used - Delta IV Heavy (which can take up to 28.8 tons to low near -Earth orbit), but is doubled by the most powerful rocket in the history of astronautics - Saturn 5. In the irrevocable version, Falcon Heavy will be able to deliver to 63.8.8.8.8.8.8.8.8.8.8.8. T in low near -Earth orbit, when all segments of the first stage, it is half as much. In the test launch on February 6, a pay -load simulator was sent to the interplanetary trajectory, which was the personal electric car of the founder of SpaceX, Ilon Mask - Tesla Roadster. A mannequin in the prototype of the spacesuit (the development of the same SpaceX) was seated on the driver's seat. This is an emergency rescue spacesuit for flights inside the Dragon 2 manned spacecraft, it is not intended for open space, but if there is a spacesuit and space convertible, then why not send them on a space trip?!

Falcon Heavy is a superpowial modification of the successful Falcon missile family, which is the assembly of the first two steps of Falcon 9 and the modernized central part, to which the elements of the side blocks are added, the rigidity of the case is also increased. All three missile blocks were designed to return, which seriously reduces its carrying capacity. Two side segments of the first stage of the rocket were able to return by making a soft landing at the cosmodrome. They also tried to save the central block of the first stage, putting it on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean, but due to the failure of the two brake engines of three, it collapsed a hundred meters from the place of planned landing.

Despite the fact that the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle is twice as for competitors in carrying capacity, its price is much lower than the cost of other missiles-one launch costs $ 90 million in a reusable version. This is four times cheaper than Delta IV Heavy, half - Ariane 5 and one and a half times cheaper than Atlas v. And the only competitor in carrying capacity is the future superprecious SLS rocket (Space Launch System), which is produced by the Consortium of American companies ordering NASA. One SLS launch is estimated at $ 1 billion, the first launch is expected no earlier than December 2019 (in an unpility version). In the future, SLS can reach a carrying capacity comparable to Saturn 5 (over 130 tons), leaving our “energy” behind and never flew n-1 (100 tons).

For Russian astronautics, this start is interesting in that the new domestic project of a super -heavy rocket has almost the same layout, only involves four side blocks instead of two. As a central segment and “sidewalls”, it is planned to use the average Soyuz-5 missile developed today.

Falcon Heavy is its own development of Spacex, the creation of which no one ordered. It is assumed that the rocket will be able to deliver commercial geostationary satellites two devices for launch or near -Earth - dozens. It is possible that FlaCon Heavy will be able to use numerous transponders during the implementation of the low -organ Internet project. The Pentagon can also offer heavy load, however, for their multi -ton satellites worth a billion and more, the military prefer to use the more reliable Delta IV Heavy and Atlas V. The recent Zuma military satellite Falcon 9 rocket, according to rumors, ended unsuccessfully. Although SpaceX took off her whole responsibility for the accident, since the satellite manufacturer was engaged in the system of the department and, apparently, she failed.

Probably, SpaceX considers the future near -moon station as a promising use of Falcon Heavy. So far, NASA plans to cope with only its SLS rocket and Orion ship. But if SpaceX really learn to deliver cargoes and people to the moon, then it may well rely on the state order. The previously voiced plans to send tourists to the moon on Falcon Heavy and the Dragon 2 ship are still postponed to the side. There were difficulties with certification of the rocket to manned flights.

In any case, SpaceX does not consider Falcon Heavy as his flagship project. Priority is given to the designed BFR (Big Falcon Rocket) rocket, which should have the possibility of a manned flight to Mars and return to the ground, with refueling. Falcon Heavy, in fact, will become a training stand for the Spacex engineers experience of creating and operating super -heavy partially reusable missiles. At the same time, the task of using “former use” rocket steps, which have already accumulated at the SpaceX plant, is solved.

Falcon Heavy opens up interesting prospects for science. The SpaceX website indicates the possibility of withdrawing a payload: in low near -Earth orbit - 63.8 tons, 26 tons in geopper, 16 tons, to Pluto - 3.5 tons. I remind you that earlier the payload maximum might could not exceed 3.5 tons, and the Pluto New Horizons Pluto had a mass of less than 500 kg. Now the possibilities of planetology have increased several times, and there is a real chance of automatic soil delivery from Mars, the launch of the orbital probe to Pluto or Uranus and Neptune systems, and data not in decades, but in relatively short time.

However, the plans of Ilona Falcon Heavy Mask only a transitional stage to an even more ambitious BFR system, which should have very fantastic capabilities up to a manned flight to Jupiter. Whether it will be possible to create BFR, whether there will be customers, it is too early to speak for it, but success with Falcon Heavy demonstrates the high capabilities of SpaceX specialists.

Vitaly Egorov,
Cosmonautics popularizer,
employee of the Russian private space company Dauria Aerospeis