SpaceX is just a few hours away from its planned launch debut of Falcon Heavy Block 5. This is without a doubt a milestone that will be the rocket’s second launch ever. It will also be the first mission with a commercial payload.
Teslarati reports that Falcon’s job is to place the Saudi Arabian communications satellite Arabsat 6A into a “high-energy geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) more than 35,000 km (~22,000 mi) above Earth’s surface.”
The satellite weighs around 6,000 kg (13,200 lbs), Falcon Heavy will still have enough performance to try and recover all three of the new Block 5 boosters.
With a bit of luck, this will return SpaceX’s East Coast lading zones LZ-1 and LZ-2 to successful operations. This would come after the anomaly that took place in December 2018 that caused the Falcon 9 B1051 to land about a mile offshore.
SpaceX will attempt to land Falcon Heavy’s side boosters at Landing Zones 1 and 2 and Falcon Heavy’s center core on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship during the Arabsat-6A mission → # pic.twitter.com/0vHnyYt0nN
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 9, 2019
Teslarati writes that “Falcon Heavy will be made entirely out of Block 5 hardware, including three new boosters (likely B1052, B1053, and B1055), a Block 5 upper stage with a Merlin Vacuum engine, and a recovery-optimized “Version 2” payload fairing. Altogether, Falcon Heavy likely weighs upwards of 80,000 kg (175,000 lb) empty and more than 1,420 metric tons (3,125,000 lb) when fully fueled.”
The online publication continues and explains that “At liftoff, the Falcon Heavy Block 5 rocket’s 27 Merlin 1D engines are expected to produce no less than 5.1 million pounds (~2300 mT/23,000 kN) of thrust at full throttle, but that figure could rise as high as 5.6 million pounds (2550 mT/25,500 kN) of thrust depending on how one interprets rather vague official numbers from CEO Elon Musk.”
A third launch is planned two months from now
Falcon Heavy Flight 2 is exciting because both of its Block 5 side boosters will be instrumental to a proposed third launch of the SpaceX rocket two months later.
SpaceX’s launch webcast will be going live with approximately 20 minutes before liftoff, and the window will be stretching from 6:35 pm to 8:31 pm EDT (22:35-00:31 UTC).
The weather is expected to be good, and it’s reportedly holding around 80% “go” for launch.
Rada attended the courses in the Faculty of Letters, Romanian-English section, and finished the Faculty of Theatre and Television, Theatrical Journalism section, both within the framework of Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca. Up ’til now, she reviewed books, movies, and theatre-plays, enjoying subjects from the cultural niche. Her experience in writing also intersects the IT niche, given the fact that she worked as a content editor for firms that produce software for mobile devices. She is collaborating with online advertising agencies, writing articles for several websites and blogs.