by a factor of two Falcon heavy is the most powerful operating rocket in the entire planet
the Falcon heavy is able to lift roughly 64 metric tons into orbit which is more than
twice the payload of the next closest operating vehicle the Delta IV heavy Falcon heavy is made
up of three Falcon 9 9 engine cores Each of which has 27 Merlin engines at liftoff these engines
provide more than 5 million pounds of thrust the equivalent of about 18 747 airplanes this
weekend the fifth Flight of the Falcon heavy is planned and so let's find out what is the
engineering Marvel behind this rocket hello everyone welcome back to Elon Musk Evolution
where we bring you the most recent news about Elon Musk and his multi-billion dollar companies space
news and the latest science and technology but before we begin make sure you subscribe to our
Channel and click the Bell icon so you don't miss any of our amazing videos a liftoff is scheduled
for this weekend using spacex's formidable Falcon heavy rocket which has already flexed its might
at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Florida's pad 39a SpaceX just completed a static fire test with
the Falcon heavy igniting all 27 of the Rockets first stage Merlin engines while the spacecraft
remained fixed on the ground static burns are regular pre-launch testing for SpaceX and the
Falcon heavy is in fact getting ready to launch soon SpaceX said on Tuesday January 10 via Twitter
that full duration static fire of Falcon heavy of complete targeting no earlier than Saturday
January 14 for launch of the ussf-67 mission from Florida the Tweet also included a picture of the
static fire the United States space force will use Falcon heavy to launch ussf-67 as the mission's
name implies the most recent Falcon heavy flight us sf-44 which launched on November 1 2022 also
had the nation's newest military branch as a customer a few classified payloads were sent
by ussf 44 into geostationary orbit which is located around 22 thousand two hundred miles
above Earth according to space news ussf 67 will likewise aim for geo and will send a spacecraft
that can carry six small satellites there along with a military communication satellite
the first Falcon heavy Mission since June 2019 was ussf 44. according to observers in the space
business the main cause of that lengthy Gap was a delay in the customers payloads preparedness
three initial stages of spacex's reliable Falcon 9 rocket are fastened together to form the Falcon
heavy the payloads are carried by an upper stage that is affixed to the center booster the initial
stages of both the Falcon 9 and Falcon heavy are made to be reused according to space news the two
side rockets on ussf-67 will be recycled from ussf-44 and will make another attempt to land
in order to be reused in the future according to space news the center core of ussf-67 is
brand new and won't try to land on Saturday the scheduled launch on Saturday will keep
SpaceX busy 40 internet satellites were lofted by Elon musk's company on Monday night for the
london-based company oneweb and 51 of its own starlink Broadband craft are scheduled
to be launched on Tuesday night additionally on Monday spacex's robotic Dragon Supply ship
Departed the International Space Station for its return to Earth spacex's crs-26 resupply mission
for NASA is anticipated to come to do a close on Wednesday January 11 when dragon is anticipated
to splash down off the Florida coast and now let's take a closer look on how the new SpaceX
Falcon heavy rocket works the launch industry has long sought to achieve the ambitious dream
of getting a spacecraft into Earth orbit for only one thousand dollars per pound of weight Elon Musk
the CEO of SpaceX announced a new launch vehicle on Tuesday saying it would be capable of reaching
that milestone in a few years and would completely revolutionize the space business he introduced
the Falcon heavy a new launch vehicle based on spacex's Falcon 9 rocket which in December of
2010 successfully launched a pressurized capsule into orbit following a successful test flight in
the summer of 2010 however according to musk the heavy will be able to launch five times
as much Freight into orbit the Falcon 9 consisted of one upper stage with a single Merlin 1C engine
and a single first stage with nine liquid oxygen kerosene engines thus the name at a cost of 50
million dollars or rough roughly two thousand dollars per pound it can launch a twenty three
thousand pound payload into low earth orbit whereas most launchers are far more expensive
there are three distinct ways in which the new rocket the Falcon heavy is more potent in the
first place it increases the number of Merlin engines used overall in the first firing stage
to 27 by including two additional first stage engine cores each comprised of nine Merlin
engines alongside the original one consequently the heavy has enough thrust to launch its upper
stage and a heavier cargo into orbit the thrust of each Merlin is raised from 125
000 pounds to 140 000 and it also uses an improved version of the Merlin the Falcon Heavy's third and
most novel Improvement is that it is a two and a half stage vehicle or possibly more precisely a
two and three quarter stage vehicle just what does that imply a propellant tank without engines that
slips off once its propellant is used up is what Engineers commonly refer to as a half stage the
space shuttle's external tank which supplies fuel fuel to the orbiter's main engines and separates
once they are finished is the most well-known example of this the Falcon heavy is constructed
somewhat differently during its initial Ascent after takeoff it cross-feeds propellants from
the two outer nine engine cores to the central one as a result while both side cores are operating
at maximum thrust they are simultaneously transferring a third of their respective fuel
to the central core via interconnected lines thus some propellant can be saved for later use and the
central core is able to thrust without using up all of its own Supply the central core continues
with a full fuel load and without the weight of the two empty side cores when the fuel in the
two side cores runs out it is possible to refer to those two side cores as three-quarter stages
because they serve as the center stages engines and propellant tanks simultaneously performance
is not the only benefit of this configuration due to the equipment's high potential for cost savings
SpaceX has always made an effort to recover the first stage components however SpaceX was unable
to do so on the first two Falcon 9 missions most likely as a result of the unit's extreme
difficulty in surviving entry into the atmosphere due to the entry velocity the two outer cores may
have a better chance of making it into the ocean whole under the new plan because they will divide
at a much slower speed if those two stages are successfully recovered the company's profit margin
might increase noticeably or launch prices could be lowered what does it all amount to it doubles
the Falcon 9's 12-ton payload capability by five bringing it up to almost 60 tons or 117 000 pounds
since the Saturn V which launched the Apollo missions to the moon was the greatest American
rocket of all time the cargo would be almost half as much and the largest available today in other
words as musk pointed out it would be possible to deploy a crew on one voyage and a Lander on
another to complete a manned lunar mission in two flights it could do an Apollo style manned lunar
flyby with just one launch additionally it was capable of hurling tons of material toward Mars
how many depends on how fast you want to get there additionally the quoted price is no more than 120
million dollars which is quite close to the long desired launch Milestone of one thousand dollars
per pound major space industry repercussions could result from the Falcon heavy customers
that were previously priced out of the market could be won over with a lower launch cost and
additional payload capacity might also draw in new clients the Air Force and NASA may be among
those the United launch alliance's Atlas 5 and Delta IV Rockets are the Falcon Heavy's American
Rivals and while they have twice the payload and cost significantly less per launch than the Falcon
heavy which has half the capacity of the Saturn V at least an Elon musk's plan they offer twice the
payload of the Falcon heavy Meanwhile by running two orbital Dragon spacecraft four rockets and
four launch pads at once on January 9th SpaceX showcased the range of its capabilities at
starship's sole orbital launch pad in South Texas in the afternoon SpaceX stacked chip 24 and super
heavy B7 in preparation for spacex's Planned starlink 2-4 launch in California which will
transport the company's own internet satellites a Falcon 9 rocket was vertical at Vandenberg
space Force Base the two orbital Falcon launch sites for SpaceX were both in use in Florida
pad 39a at the Kennedy Space Center which SpaceX rents from NASA had just witnessed the vertical
launch of a falcon heavy rocket a second Falcon 9 rocket for a one-web satellite launch was
vertical a few miles to the south at spacex's Cape Canaveral space force station lc40 pad starlink
2-4 was postponed by the weather although SpaceX was briefly ready to launch two Falcon 9 Rockets
35 minutes apart SpaceX recently deployed two reusable Dragon spacecraft in orbit along with
four orbital class rockets that were vertically assembled and ready to launch from all four of its
orbital launch sites the breadth and diversity of the launch vehicle and spacecraft activities of a
single company can only be matched by the entirety of the Chinese launch industry both commercial and
public over 3 300 Starling satellites were being run by SpaceX at the same time providing internet
access to one million users worldwide NASA has partnered with SpaceX to launch modified Dragon
spacecraft into lunar orbit land astronauts on the moon using a modified Starship and carry private
astronauts around the moon in a modified Starship the ultimate goal of Starship is to make it
possible to establish a long lasting viable human presence on Mars for those otherworldly objectives
SpaceX still has a long way to go however 10 years ago not even the most Ardent supporter of the firm
could have imagined that by the early 2020s SpaceX will control practically every significant area of
contemporary space flight they also wouldn't have predicted that NASA would choose Starship above
nearly every other major traditional U.S Aerospace business to carry out the mission to the moon
or that SpaceX would launch its first astronaut before Boeing or that NASA would choose to invest
billions of dollars in Starship the company's future remains uncertain even in terms of
where it will be in a decade from now what space missions should you pay close attention to in 2023
there is much to be enthusiastic about this year even though humans won't return to the Moon until
2025. it might appear that 2023 will be dull in comparison to 2022 given how exciting 2022 was
for space news particularly with the release of the first photographs from the James Webb Space
Telescope and NASA crashing the dart Mission into an asteroid but that's not the case here are the
most important space missions to watch in 2023 ranging from solar system explorations to new
developments in commercial space flight one the return of samples from the asteroid bennu
osiris-rex was introduced by NASA back in 2016. for the purpose of collecting Rock samples the
craft arrived near the asteroid bennu in October 2020. it is anticipated that osiris-rex will
return to Earth with the samples on September 24 2023 though that date May alter as the year goes
on bennu is a modest asteroid in comparison to others in the solar system because it is about as
large as the empire State Building is tall around 1450 feet notably NASA estimates that it will come
near to Earth three times in the late 22nd century with a one in 1750 risk of colliding with Earth on
each occasion 2. juice mission of Europe to Europa the Jupiter icy moons Explorer or juice will
launch to Jupiter in April 2023 from the European Space Agency juice will conduct in-depth studies
of Jupiter's three-sizable Oceanic moons ganamedi Europa and Callisto once it enters orbit around
the gas giant in 2031 with the help of these observations scientists will be able to examine
Jupiter's surroundings and its three moons in unprecedented detail and that ends today's episode
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