SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket launch in almost two years has entered the final stage of preparation – testing, delivery and assembly of flight hardware.
Consisting of five main elements, the vast majority of the challenges of building and launching Falcon Heavy come from the rocket’s three first-phase boosters – each more or less equivalent to a single-core Falcon 9 booster. Falcon Heavy’s twin side amplifiers are by far the most visually recognizable sign of the similar but different nature, thanks to the need for aerodynamic nose straps instead of the normal intermediate stage of a Falcon booster (a hollow cylinder).
Although easily recognizable, the center core is the technically Falcon Heavy-specific part of SpaceX’s partially reusable heavy-lift rocket, which requires a unique aircraft frame compared to nuclear cores, which are essentially Falcon 9 boosters with a few great additions. It’s one of the Falcon Heavy side amplifiers that was on its way from SpaceX’s test facilities to a Florida launch pad on Tuesday, January 26th.
For unknown reasons, although SpaceX currently has two reused Falcon Heavy side amplifiers that flew a second time on the US Air Force’s STP-2 mission, the company has manufactured brand new amplifiers – probably at the request of the US Army – for the fourth rocket launch. The mission, which will be revalued from AFSPC-44 to USSF-44, will see SpaceX attempt its very first launch directly to GEO, sending a few tons of mystery satellite directly into geostationary orbit (GEO).
The main challenge of direct-to-GEO launches is the need for a given rocket’s top stage to coast for hours in orbit and then re-ignite after that coastal period of more hours. The direct launch profile also requires more delta-V (propellant) than alternative transfer lanes (GTOs) – propellant that must be launched in a lane in addition to the customer’s payload. It requires the use of extraordinarily large and / or efficient rockets, which is why SpaceX launches USSF-44 with Falcon Heavy instead of a much cheaper and simpler Falcon 9.
Unlike all the other direct-to-GEO launches in history, however, Falcon Heavy Flight 4 will (hopefully) be the first time a rocket has sent a payload into a geostationary orbit, while still carrying a large portion of the first phase recovery. After the lifting, Falcon Heavy side amplifiers B1064 and B1064 will attempt to land the very first double drone at sea, while the rocket’s custom center core will be deliberately used. According to CEO Elon Musk, it is victim-center-core The configuration theoretically allows Falcon Heavy to achieve ~ 90% of its disposable performance, while still being able to recycle two otherwise reusable boosters.
With the release of the first USSF-44 side amplifier in Louisiana, at least one other amplifier (probably the mission’s second side amplifier) has already been spotted at SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas development facilities, and may have already completed its own round of static fire acceptance . testing. Given the three-month gap between the static fire of the first USSF-44 side amplifier and the appearance of a side amplifier in transit, there is a high possibility that the booster observed on January 26 was the second of two side amplifiers. sent east, but that’s unlikely given how many Falcon boosters stand out on the road.
Finally, if we assume that the static fire acceptance test of the second USSF-44 side booster went well, the only major Falcon Heavy-specific hardware that SpaceX has to send from its Hawthorne, CA headquarters is the center B1066. An upper phase and payload screen will also have to pass acceptance tests and go to Florida, but both will likely be standard Falcon 9 editions, minimizing the small amount of uncertainty.
If SpaceX delivers B1066 to McGregor within the next week or two, the center should be ready to ship to Florida by March or April, and SpaceX will have two or three months left to integrate a static fire and prepare Falcon Heavy for the fourth launch. According to the latest official information from the US military, USSF-44 is scheduled to launch no earlier than the “late spring 2021” (NET), which probably implies late May or June.