Falcon Heavy: SpaceX’s rocket will outlift Space Shuttle

Elon Musk’s private space company, SpaceX, has been making waves in recent years — and for good reason.

The company has successfully delivered supplies to the International Space Station, landed several first stage boosters and is currently fighting Boeing to win NASA‘s astronaut contract.

But we’re just a few months away from another significant milestone in the company’s lifespan, as it readies a beast of a rocket, dubbed the Falcon Heavy.

The most powerful rocket in operation

The rocket is set to carry a bigger payload to orbit than the Space Shuttle. That’s 54.4 tonnes as opposed to the Shuttle’s 24 tonnes. Only the Apollo-era Saturn V rockets were capable of lofting heavier cargo, with a maximum payload of 140 tonnes. Then again, the Saturn V is no longer used, leaving the Falcon Heavy on top.

Related: 12 important space missions, events to look forward to in 2017

Still not convinced? SpaceX’s website has a better way of conveying the new rocket’s power…

“Falcon Heavy can lift the equivalent of a fully loaded 737 jetliner–complete with passengers, luggage and fuel — to orbit.”

SpaceX took the Kerbal route

The Falcon Heavy is essentially a Falcon 9 with two extra Falcon 9 rocket boosters attached to it – an approach akin to Kerbal Space Program, really.

Even the second stage of the rocket is mostly identical to the standard Falcon 9 second stage. The result is that SpaceX is able to drive down costs by using this existing technology. In fact, the company claims to out-lift the current US heavy-lift king (the Delta IV Heavy) for “one-third the cost”.

Landing three boosters at once?

SpaceX envisions the new rocket to be very reusable – at least as reusable as the Falcon 9.

SpaceX: ‘Falcon Heavy can lift the equivalent of a fully loaded 737 jetliner–complete with passengers, luggage and fuel — to orbit’

We all saw those impressive first stage rocket landings, but SpaceX will try to land all three Falcon Heavy boosters in the same fashion. At least if the aforementioned SpaceX video is to be believed…

Will this be done on the first test flight though? SpaceX has applied for two more landing pads to be constructed at the Kennedy Space Centre..

First flight in December 2016

The Falcon Heavy is set to undergo its first proper test flight in December, but details beyond this aren’t clear just yet.

SpaceX seems to be against carrying client payloads, but a report from Space Flight Now suggests that the company might reconsider its plans.

It will be capable of missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond

The new rocket has also been designed for missions beyond Low Earth Orbit and the International Space Station.

“Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars,” the company explained on its website.

It will also be capable of carrying cargo to other worlds — SpaceX claims the ability to carry 13.6 tonnes to Mars and 2.9 tonnes to Pluto.

Featured image: SpaceX via Flickr