First images of Falcon Heavy rocket revealed

[UM-Bot]

SpaceX has unveiled images of the 'world's most powerful rocket' ahead of its maiden voyage next month.

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/314301/first-images-of-falcon-heavy-rocket-revealed

[Space Commander Travis]

I know you're not allowed to voice anything other than adulation of the Mighty Musk here, but really, can this by anything other than rampant egotism and perhaps the silliest publicity stunt ever?

Quote

The rocket is currently undergoing final testing ahead of its inaugural launch next month which, in a peculiar move, will see Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster placed in to orbit around Mars.

Way to waste fuel lifting that superfluous weight to orbit, Great Saviour of the Environment.

 

***SNIP***

Edited December 21, 2017 by Waspie_Dwarf
Do not post content designed to complain about, rally support against or to criticise moderator action.

[SHaYap]

'fraid I'm with the Von-D on this one ...

~

[Jon the frog]

That's a lot of engine nozzle !!! Do the 3 booster parts come back for landing ???

[Derek Willis]

9 hours ago, Manfred von Dreidecker said:

I know you're not allowed to voice anything other than adulation of the Mighty Musk here, but really, can this by anything other than rampant egotism and perhaps the silliest publicity stunt ever?

Way to waste fuel lifting that superfluous weight to orbit, Great Saviour of the Environment.

***SNIP***

Perhaps being the first test-flight of the Falcon Heavy, Mister Musk couldn't secure a paying payload and so opted for a publicity stunt.

Edited December 21, 2017 by Waspie_Dwarf
Edited Manfred's quote

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

If a publicity stunt helps us get cheaper access to space, I fail to see the big problem. As Derek Willis wrote it might be a simple question of no one being willing to risk a payload on a maiden flight. Its not uncommon for test flight to have dummy payloads.

[Sir Smoke aLot]

It just makes Saturn V rocket specifications even more fascinating.

[pallidin]

This is outstanding!

Whatever it takes to make space travel/exploration even more possible, I'm for it.

[toast]

5 hours ago, Jon the frog said:

That's a lot of engine nozzle !!! Do the 3 booster parts come back for landing ???

You can read the article free of charge.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

6 hours ago, Derek Willis said:

Perhaps being the first test-flight of the Falcon Heavy, Mister Musk couldn't secure a paying payload and so opted for a publicity stunt.

Most first flights of launch vehicles do not carry paying payloads due to the high risk of launch failure. In order for the launch to be a meaningful test of the vehicle they need to carry some sort of ballast approximating the mass of a payload. Sometimes this is a satellite, usually for a research organisation such as a university, given a free ride on the understanding that it has a good chance of failure. Just as often the vehicle will carry a dummy payload (concrete weights have been used as ballast).

A good example of this is the recent (only partially successful) launch of Rocket Labs Electron rocket:

Quote

The launch carried only a test payload, including instrumentation to collect data on the launch environment.

Source: SpaceNews

Given the huge payload capacity of the Falcon Heavy a small research satellite requiring a free flight was never an option, so ballast would have been used. Musk has seen a great publicity stunt here admittedly, but despite Manfred's comments, no extra fuel is being "wasted" and no superfluous mass is being launched, it's just that the ballast is a Tesla Roadster rather than a block of concrete.

[Jon the frog]

4 hours ago, toast said:

You can read the article free of charge.

Yep they say they do but an article is an article.. i just don't see the grid fins on the center booster while on the side booster they are clearly in place and visible. Found it quite strange. Do someone know if they use another control surface for the center stage ?

Edited December 22, 2017 by Jon the frog

[Haroldbattschits]

I think it's awesome that the guy who built the thing gets to decide what to send up with it on its madden voyage. Of course it's a publicity stunt, what's wrong with that? This genius not only built a car company from scratch, he did it in a completely new way with new technology that actually reduced the costs of EV's. Now we use his reusable rocket boosters to resupply the ISS! Unlike NASA, or the Soviet Union, you can actually trace the entire history of Space X to a single individual. Impressive. Launch whatever the hell you want to launch

[Haroldbattschits]

And yes, I'm quite aware that he is not personally responsible for the actual engineering of certain aspects of his rockets and cars, but one man put all of the pieces together. 

[Waspie_Dwarf]

8 hours ago, Jon the frog said:

 i just don't see the grid fins on the center booster while on the side booster they are clearly in place and visible. Found it quite strange. Do someone know if they use another control surface for the center stage ?

The grid fins are there, they are painted white on the core booster.

[Derek Willis]

11 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

Most first flights of launch vehicles do not carry paying payloads due to the high risk of launch failure. In order for the launch to be a meaningful test of the vehicle they need to carry some sort of ballast approximating the mass of a payload. Sometimes this is a satellite, usually for a research organisation such as a university, given a free ride on the understanding that it has a good chance of failure. Just as often the vehicle will carry a dummy payload (concrete weights have been used as ballast).

A good example of this is the recent (only partially successful) launch of Rocket Labs Electron rocket:

Source: SpaceNews

Given the huge payload capacity of the Falcon Heavy a small research satellite requiring a free flight was never an option, so ballast would have been used. Musk has seen a great publicity stunt here admittedly, but despite Manfred's comments, no extra fuel is being "wasted" and no superfluous mass is being launched, it's just that the ballast is a Tesla Roadster rather than a block of concrete.

On one level, launching a Tesla car into Earth orbit is fine by me. However, should we really be adding unnecessary "junk" into orbit? The article also mentions that the plan is to place the Tesla in orbit around Mars. I don't know if this is seriously the intention. To me that is somewhat irreverent. Also, if the car were to accidentally impact on the surface, some parts might withstand the flight through the atmosphere. So, has the car been sterilized to prevent contamination? I am wondering if the mention of the Tesla car is entirely a publicity stunt?

[Derek Willis]

1 minute ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

The grid fins are there, they are painted white on the core booster.

Well spotted! The launch and recovery of the boosters - assuming all goes to plan - is going to be spectacular! 

[Waspie_Dwarf]

2 minutes ago, Derek Willis said:

On one level, launching a Tesla car into Earth orbit is fine by me. However, should we really be adding unnecessary "junk" into orbit?

It's not being launched into Earth orbit, it's being launched on an escape trajectory so that it will enter heliocentric orbit, where it shouldn't be a problem.

[Derek Willis]

7 minutes ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

It's not being launched into Earth orbit, it's being launched on an escape trajectory so that it will enter heliocentric orbit, where it shouldn't be a problem.

I see that now. I am assuming the initial Earth orbit will be low so that if the upper-stage doesn't reignite, the whole thing - Tesla included - will re-enter pretty quickly and burn up.

Unless, of course, the upper-stage will simply continue burning until escape velocity is reached. 

Edited December 22, 2017 by Derek Willis

[Jon the frog]

2 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

The grid fins are there, they are painted white on the core booster.

Oh cool ! Thx !  It will be so cool if they film it like the other flights ! Bu it's Musk so they will !