SpaceX’s fourth Falcon Heavy launch is still approaching, and it recently celebrated the arrival of one of three new Falcon Heavy boosters for static fire tests in Texas.
There is a chance that the booster in question is only an ordinary first phase of Falcon 9, but according to photos of local resident Reagan, the unusual appearance implies a white intermediate stage (the carbon fiber composite part containing grid fins and hardware for the second phase deployment) different.
After a few months of inactivity since the first of three new Falcon Heavy edge amplifiers – ‘disguised’ with a rejected Falcon 9 interstage – arrived at SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas test facilities, the latest amplifier is probably the second of two new Falcon Heavy side amplifiers. needed for a U.S. military launch later this year.
Following the departure of SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California factory sometime in late August 2020, NASASpaceflight of the hardware later confirmed that it was the first of three new Falcon Heavy boosters vertical at the company’s McGregor, Texas, a static firefighter approximately ‘ a month later. Oddly enough, unlike the four other Falcon Heavy side amplifiers that SpaceX has been testing over the past few years, this core arrived in Texas with an interim play instead of a clear nose wire.
Why is this unclear, since two previous side amplifiers were statically fired with nose straps installed? Regardless, since the white interstage of the latest booster tournament is apparently no custom core hardware, it is most likely the second of two Falcon Heavy Flight 4-side amplifiers.
If the rocket passes the acceptance tests, it will leave two more phases – a custom center and a top-notch stage – to ship and test before SpaceX can say all the hardware is available for the fourth launch of the triple booster. Delayed from Q4 2020 to February 2021 in September 2020, that the all-new Falcon Heavy’s first launch will be known as AFSPC-44 or USSF-44 and an unspecified U.S. military satellite and one or more cargo loads directly to the geostationary orbit (GEO) will deliver. – a first for SpaceX.
Unless this second booster is a few days away from a quick static fire test and a new Falcon Heavy core and the top stage is already at McGregor, or a few days from departure from Hawthorne, is a launch target of February 2021 almost impossible.
Not long after the tentative launch date was announced on February 28, a USAF official did present an updated target, saying that USSF-44 is now expected to launch in the “late spring” – which (at least) in the US) May or June 2021 implies. It is unclear what is to blame for the six or more months of delays the mission has suffered over the past year, but continued booster testing is a good sign that things are more or less back on track.