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Falcon Surprise, SpaceX Says Something Big is Coming
Greg Hullender
post Apr 5 2011, 04:01 AM
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From SpaceX about two hours ago.

QUOTE
Something Big is Coming
ElonMusk Holding Press Conference on Tuesday, April 5th
Elon Musk,CEO and Chief Technical Officer of SpaceX, will hold a press conference on Tuesday, April 5th at 11:20am EST to discuss SpaceX's latest venture.
Get a sneakpeak of the discussion on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6HQ9RtVCE.
The press conference will be webcast live at: http://www.visualwebcaster.com/spacex. The press conference will also be accessible via the home page ofSpaceX.com by clicking the main banner. If you are unable to watch live, the press conference will be archived at http://www.visualwebcaster.com/spacex for future viewing.
Judging from the video (and the fact that the Falcon 9 Heavy Maiden Launch showed up on their mainifest a month or two ago) I'm guessing this'll be the F9H announcement. But, given the fanfare, it could be anything.

--Greg

This post has been edited by Astro0: Apr 5 2011, 04:31 AM
Reason for edit: Edited to fix formatting problems
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stevesliva
post Apr 6 2011, 05:37 AM
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Beats me.

Because there is a brand new space launch complex there for the Delta IV heavy that probably won't be doing very much?

edit: Actually, looks like they'll be using the Titan IV SLC-4 that the air force should've kept around a little longer. Might just allow more multitasking.
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SFJCody
post Apr 6 2011, 01:08 PM
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I wonder what could be done with a little New Horizons size spacecraft + kick stage on a monster launch vehicle like that. Flybys of Eris or Sedna? laugh.gif
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AndyG
post Apr 6 2011, 01:44 PM
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~12 tonnes in low Mars orbit would be rather entertaining, too! rolleyes.gif
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ugordan
post Apr 6 2011, 04:34 PM
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QUOTE (AndyG @ Apr 6 2011, 03:44 PM) *
~12 tonnes in low Mars orbit would be rather entertaining, too! rolleyes.gif

12 tons to TMI and 12 tons in Mars orbit are two different things.


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AndyG
post Apr 6 2011, 06:46 PM
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QUOTE (ugordan @ Apr 6 2011, 05:34 PM) *
12 tons to TMI and 12 tons in Mars orbit are two different things.

Oh, agreed.

If the Earth-orbited 52 tonne figure is correct and the back of my envelope is working, ~6.2km/s takes you from LEO to LMO, and that delta V gives you a 12T final mass with a LH/LOX rocket of specific impulse ~450.

Andy
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ugordan
post Apr 6 2011, 07:09 PM
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I wouldn't count on Falcon Heavy having anything near those 53 mt in the near future. The current 1st stage tank size simply doesn't support that kind of propellant load. Wer'e talking 1450 tons liftoff mass compared to 310 t of current Falcon 9.

It seems obvious an upgrade path at one point would be to stretch the tank by as much as 40 or 50% to take advantage of the upgraded Merlin engine thrust. The CGI video shows a Falcon Heavy with current tank sizes and I'd wager that one would put in the ballpark of previous Falcon 9 Heavy estimates - about 30 tons to LEO. Tanks stretched by that much would look unnaturally skinny for F9's diameter.


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ElkGroveDan
post Apr 6 2011, 10:04 PM
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QUOTE (ugordan @ Apr 6 2011, 11:09 AM) *
Tanks stretched by that much would look unnaturally skinny for F9's diameter.

I'm sure those sections will be encouraged to wear horizontal stripes.


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If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Posts in this topic
- Greg Hullender   Falcon Surprise   Apr 5 2011, 04:01 AM
- - Syrinx   I've taken all the fanfare to mean that SpaceX...   Apr 5 2011, 04:35 AM
|- - Eluchil   QUOTE I'm guessing this'll be the F9H anno...   Apr 5 2011, 06:23 PM
- - Norm Hartnett   If Space X gets this thing off the ground (and the...   Apr 5 2011, 11:49 PM
- - Greg Hullender   Spaceflight Now says NASA is eager to certify the ...   Apr 6 2011, 02:37 AM
- - Greg Hullender   Anyone have any idea why the maiden launch for FH ...   Apr 6 2011, 04:43 AM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (Greg Hullender @ Apr 6 2011, 06:43...   Apr 6 2011, 04:33 PM
- - djellison   Pad ready quicker? Less conflicts on the range? C...   Apr 6 2011, 05:30 AM
- - stevesliva   Beats me. Because there is a brand new space laun...   Apr 6 2011, 05:37 AM
|- - SFJCody   I wonder what could be done with a little New Hori...   Apr 6 2011, 01:08 PM
|- - AndyG   ~12 tonnes in low Mars orbit would be rather enter...   Apr 6 2011, 01:44 PM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (AndyG @ Apr 6 2011, 03:44 PM) ~12 ...   Apr 6 2011, 04:34 PM
|- - AndyG   QUOTE (ugordan @ Apr 6 2011, 05:34 PM) 12...   Apr 6 2011, 06:46 PM
|- - ugordan   I wouldn't count on Falcon Heavy having anythi...   Apr 6 2011, 07:09 PM
|- - stevesliva   QUOTE (ugordan @ Apr 6 2011, 03:09 PM) I ...   Apr 6 2011, 09:37 PM
||- - ugordan   QUOTE (stevesliva @ Apr 6 2011, 11:37 PM)...   Apr 6 2011, 10:09 PM
|- - ElkGroveDan   QUOTE (ugordan @ Apr 6 2011, 11:09 AM) Ta...   Apr 6 2011, 10:04 PM
- - algorimancer   Launch costs of <$1000/lb. encourage the n...   Apr 7 2011, 03:31 PM
|- - djellison   QUOTE (algorimancer @ Apr 7 2011, 08:31 A...   Apr 7 2011, 03:48 PM
|- - Syrinx   You know the old saying. In for $1000, in fo...   Apr 7 2011, 06:28 PM
|- - algorimancer   QUOTE (Syrinx @ Apr 7 2011, 01:28 PM) ......   Apr 11 2011, 12:45 PM
- - djellison   I repeat - you are catastrophically underestimatin...   Apr 11 2011, 01:56 PM
- - algorimancer   As I see it, you're prematurely squelching a (...   Apr 11 2011, 05:11 PM
|- - djellison   QUOTE (algorimancer @ Apr 11 2011, 10:11 ...   Apr 11 2011, 08:27 PM
- - Greg Hullender   Something I've always liked about UMSF is that...   Apr 13 2011, 01:38 AM


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