12. Falcon Heavy
a) History
a. Concepts were beginning to be discussed in the mid 2000s
b. Unveiled the plan in April 2011
i. At a Washington DC news conference
ii. First test flight expected to be in 2013
c. Some setbacks caused the first flight to be in 2017
d. Elon Musk admitted that the Falcon Heavy was much harder to do than they expected and that they underestimated it at the beginning
e. Initial test flight now set for December 2017
b) Conception and Funding
a. First mentioned in September 2005
i. News update
ii. Referring to costumer request from 18 months before
b. The concept came from exploring better alternatives to the Falcon 9
c) Development
a. Based on Falcon 9’s fuselage and engines
b. First flight depends on Falcon 9 development
c. 2008
i. Aiming for Falcon 9 launch in 2009
ii. Said the Heavy would be in a few years
iii. Being developed with private capital
iv. No government financing is being provided
d. April 2011
i. Falcon 9 was performing well
ii. Falcon 9 had 2 successful missions
iii. Elon Musk said the Heavy would carry more payload to orbit than any vehicle ever
e. 2015
i. Announces changes to the Falcon Heavy
ii. These changes worked parallel with the Falcon 9 v1.1
f. December 2016
i. Released a photo showing the Falcon Heavy interstage
ii. At the headquarters in Hawthorne, California
d) Testing
a. May 2013
i. New test stand being built
ii. At SpaceX Rocket Developmet and Test Facility in McGregor, Texas
iii. Made to test the triple cores and twenty-seven engines
b. May 2017
i. First static fire test
ii. At McGregor Facility
c. September 2017
i. All three cores completed static fire test
ii. On ground test stand
d. Musk says that it is very hard to test the Falcon Heavy
i. July 2017
ii. Says he can’t get a feel for the rockets strengths until they start flight testing
e) Maiden Flight
a. April 2011
i. Targeting a first launch in 2013
ii. Wanted first launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base
iii. First launch from Cape Canaveral planned for 2013 or 2014
b. September 2015
i. Rescheduled the maiden flight of the Falcon Heavy to April or May 2016
ii. This was because of the failed CRS-7 in June
c. February 2016
i. Moved again to late 2016
ii. Flight now planned to be launched from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex
d. August 2016
i. Moved to early 2017
ii. Moved to summer 2017
iii. Moved to late 2017
iv. Further missions were also rescheduled
e. Second demonstration flight
i. Scheduled for 2018
ii. With the STP-2 US air force payload
f. GTO missions
i. For Intelsat and Inmarsat
ii. Initially planned for late 2017
iii. Moved to the Falcon 9 full thrust version because it’s powerful enough to lift those payloads
iv. First commercial GTO mission scheduled for 2018 for Arabsat
g. July 2017 meeting of the International Space Station Research and Developmental meeting
i. In Washington DC
ii. Musk downplays expectations for first flight of the Falcon Heavy
iii. Not confident it’ll make it into orbit
iv. Would be happy even if it makes it far enough off the pad to not do any damage to the pad
h. Musk says that the structural challenges of combining the 3 falcon 9 cores is much more challenging than originally expected
f) Design
a. Configuration consists of a structurally-strengthened Falcon 9
b. Also has two additional Falcon 9 first stages which act as liquid strap-on boosters
c. Will have more lift capacity than any other rocket
d. Payload of 141,000lb to low earth orbit
e. Payload of 37,000lb to trans-mars injection
f. Designed to meet all requirements of human rating
g. Structural safety margins are 40% above flight loads which is 25% higher than other rockets
h. Designed to carry humans into space and possibly take them to Mars
i. First stage powered by 3 Falcon 9 cores each with 9 Merlin 1D engines
j. Total sea-level thrust of 22,819kN
k. As it rises out of the atmosphere thrust reaches 24,681kN
l. Upper stage powered by 1 Merlin 1D engine
i. Modified for vacuum operation
ii. Thrust of 934kN
iii. Expension ratio of 117:1
iv. Nominal burn time of 397 seconds
m. Inter-stage is a carbon fiber aluminum core composite structure
n. Stage separation happens because of reusable separation collets and a pneumatic pusher system
o. The 3 cores are arranged in a structural form called an Octaweb
p. Uses small grid fins to control the descent of the rocket
q. Legs deploy as boosters get closer to earth and land softly on the ground
g) Capabilities
a. Falls in the super heavy-lift range of rockets under the classification by NASA
b. First concept saw payloads of 54,560lb to LEO
c. In April 2011 it was now projected at 117,000lb with GTO payloads of 26,000lb
d. By 2013 the projected GTO payload was now 46,000lb
e. April 2017
i. Projected LEO payload for Falcon Heavy is 140,700lb
ii. Maximum payload achieved when rocket flies a fully expendable launch profile
h) Payload capacity history
a. LEO
i. August 2013 to April 2016 -53,000kg
ii. May 2016 to March 2017 -54,400kg
iii. Since April 2017 -63,800kg
b. GTO
i. August 2013 to April 2016 -21,200kg
ii. May 2016 to March 2017 -22,200kg
iii. Since April 2017 -26,700kg
c. GTO reusable
i. August 2013 to April 2016 -6,400kg
ii. May 2016 to March 2017 -6,400kg
iii. Since April 2017 -8,000kg
d. Mars
i. August 2013 to April 2016 -13,300kg
ii. May 2016 to March 2017 -13,600kg
iii. Since April 2017 -16,800kg
e. Pluto
i. May 2016 to March 2017 -2,900kg
ii. Since April 2017 -3,500kg
i) Reusability
a. SpaceX doing development on a reusable rocket launching system that is supposed to be able to be used for the Falcon Heavy, as well as some other of SpaceX’s rockets
b. SpaceX wants all of it’s rockets to be reusable
c. They have demonstrated both land and sea recoveries of the first stage of the falcon 9
d. For the Falcon Heavy, SpaceX is exploring the possibility of maybe recovering the second stage as well as the first
e. Will fly to GTO which will reduce flight costs significantly
j) Price
a. Musk says he believes $500 per pound is very achievable
b. In 2013 he said the prices are below $1000 dollars per pound
c. $80-125 million in 2011
d. $83-128 million in 2012
e. $77-135 million in 2013
13. Dragon
a) 2005
a. Wanted to make a human rated space program by the end of the decade
b. Ballistic capsule that can carry cargo or humans into or beyond orbit
b) 2006
a. Selected to give a crew and cargo resupply demonstration to the ISS for NASA
b. Used the dragon for this demonstration and successfully completed it
c) First test flight
a. June 2010
b. Launch complex 40 at Cape Canaveral
c. This was also the maiden flight of the falcon 9
d) First operational flight
a. December 2010
b. COTS Demo Flight 1
c. Falcon 9’s second flight
d. Success after 2 orbits around earth
e) 2012 became first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to International Space Station
14. Research and Development
a) Constantly doing different research and development programs
a. Develop reusable launch vehicles
b. Develop an interplanetary transport system
c. Develop a global telecommunications network
b) Reusable Launch System
a. Announced in 2011
b. Was designed by February 2012
c. Returns first stage of a Falcon 9
d. Testing began in 2012
i. Started with low-altitude, low-speed aspects
ii. Grasshopper and Falcon 9 were two rockets used for the takeoffs and landings
iii. In 2015-2016 they used DragonFly to test propulsive and propulsive-assist landing technologies
e. They began testing high altitude and speed aspects of the technology in late 2013
f. The autonomous drone ships are landing pads in the ocean that can move to where they are needed to be
g. There are two autonomous drone ships
i. Of course I still love you
ii. Just read the instructions
c) Interplanetary Transport System
a. SpaceX is trying to develop a rocket that can fully support flights to interplanetary space
b. Once DragonCrew and Falcon Heavy are fully functional this will be their prime objective
c. Elon Musk announced this in September 2016 at the International Astonautical Congress
d. SpaceX interested in making much larger engines then they had ever built
i. Will be called the raptor engine
ii. A Raptor was shipped to the McGregor facility in August, 2016
e. Long term goal for Musk is to try and colonize Mars
f. Musk thinks that by 2035 there will be millions on Mars
d) Other projects
a. Elon Musk says they are developing a satellite constellation in January 2015
i. Asked if they could start testing in June 2015
ii. They aim to have over 4000 satellites capable of allowing the whole globe to have internet
b. SpaceX announced they would sponsor a hyperloop competition
i. June 2015
ii. They would build a 1 mile long track for the competition to take place on
15. Infrastructure
a) Headquartered in California
b) Main manufacturing plant in California
c) Have a test site in Texas
d) 3 launch sites
a. Texas
b. Virginia
c. Washington DC
e) Satellite development facility in Seattle
16. Launch Facilities
a) Cape Canaveral
a. Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40
b. Used for Falcon 9 launches
c. Not capable of the Falcon Heavy
b) Vandenberg
a. Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex 4 East
b. Used for payloads to polar orbits
c. Can launch both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy
c) Kennedy Space Center
a. Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A
b. Been under development since late 2013
c. Plans to launch both the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy from it
d) Brownsville
a. Planning to build a commercial-only launch facility in Brownsville, Texas
b. The city agreed as they concluded that it wouldn’t have any impact on the environment
c. Plan to have the first launch no later than 2018
D. Tesla, Inc.
1. History
a) Founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning
a. Some people also considered co-founders
b. Elon Musk
c. JB Straubel
d. Ian Wright
b) They were inspired after GM recalled their electric cars in 2003
c) The main funding came from something called Series A Round
a. Led by Elon Musk
b. Started in February 2004
d) Musk was the main investor for Tesla
a. Gave most of the $7.5 million they started with
b. Allowed him to become chairman of board of directors
e) Martin Eberhard
a. Original CEO
b. Asked to resign in 2007 by board of directors
c. Became President of Technology