Debut of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket now planned early next year

Re:Debut of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket now planned early n... by nkoren on Thursday November 30, 2017 @06:12PM (#15820525)

Raptor won't fly on the Falcon, so it depends on the arrival of the BFR. Elon wants that to be doing Mars missions in the 2022 window, so test flights would have to precede that by some time. Construction of the first BFR is due to start around Q2 next year; when it gets in the air is anybody's guess.

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Re:Debut of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket now planned early n... by Tuxer on Thursday November 30, 2017 @06:18PM (#15820559)

There is still a good chance they might do a FH Raptor-powered second stage :)

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Re:Debut of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket now planned early n... by nkoren on Thursday November 30, 2017 @06:34PM (#15820653)

A higher-impulse second stage on the Heavy would make sense in payload terms, but have you seen anything from SpaceX indicating that they actually are thinking about doing this? My understanding of their design philosophy is that they prioritise the operational efficiencies of only having one type of engine and one type of propellant to worry about on the pad.

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Re:Debut of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket now planned early n... by greglindahl on Thursday November 30, 2017 @06:57PM (#15820784)

SpaceX's initial money from the Air Force for Raptor involved the possibility of a new Raptor-powered FH upper stage. There's no sign that such a stage is still planned (or was ever seriously considered, really.)

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Re:Debut of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket now planned early n... by nkoren on Friday December 01, 2017 @07:45AM (#15823462)

Huh, I'd forgotten about that -- thanks.

Yeah, I doubt it was seriously considered. Probably just didn't want to tell the Air Force what they were really planning to use the Raptor for. Can't say I blame them!

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