On December 20, SpaceX presented a new Falcon Heavy rocket a month before its first launch. Photos show the design inside the hangar. Not yet seen the cargo for the January flight. Ilon Musk previously reported that he was going to launch his cherry-red Tesla car into space.
SpaceX will begin by testing the 27 rocket engines at the site. This is going to be done before the end of this month, and the launch will be held a few weeks after the test.
Falcon Heavy - is, in fact, tripled Falcon 9. Equipped with three accelerators and the first stage, connected together with the second stage. It has three times more engines.
Now Falcon 9 is used to deliver satellites and supplies to the ISS. But Falcon Heavy is designed for more dimensional satellites and large loads that will have to be delivered to the distance to Mars and beyond.
Musk warned about the possibility of an explosion many times, so he will place personal property on board. If everything goes according to plan, the Mask machine will reach an elongated elliptical orbit around the Sun, stretching far beyond the Martian route. Earlier this month, Musk described everything in detail on his Twitter account. He said that he liked the idea that alien civilizations could find his personal transport in many years.
Falcon Heavy is capable of delivering 140,660 pounds of cargo to earth orbit, 37040 pounds to Mars and 7720 pounds to Pluto.
Despite this, primacy in the rocket industry remains with Saturn-V, used in the 1960-1970s. However, no one could use it again. NASA provided a similar service through shuttles operated until 2011.
SpaceX opens a new era of reusable missiles, which significantly saves the cost of space launch. Two of the three Falcon Heavy accelerators have already been launched and landed on a floating platform.
Now SpaceX is developing an even larger rocket that can replace the entire Falcon line.
