SpaceX Reuseable Rockets

Falcon Heavy

When Falcon Heavy lifts off in 2017, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit over 54 metric tons (119,000 lb)--a mass equivalent to a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel--Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost. Falcon Heavy draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9. Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars.

Payload

Falcon Heavy missions will deliver large payloads to orbit inside a composite fairing, but the rocket can also carry the Dragon spacecraft.

Composite Fairing

The composite payload fairing protects satellites during delivery to destinations in low Earth orbit (LEO), geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) and beyond.

Second Stage

Falcon Heavy draws upon Falcon 9's proven design, which minimizes stage separation events and maximizes reliability. The second-stage Merlin engine, identical to its counterpart on Falcon 9, delivers the rocket's payload to orbit after the main engines cut off and the first-stage cores separate. The engine can be restarted multiple times to place payloads into a variety of orbits including low Earth, geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) and geosynchronous orbit (GSO).

Engine: 1
Burn Time: 397sec
Thrust in Vacuum: 934kN210,000 lbf

Falcon 9's second stage is powered by a single Merlin vacuum engine nearly identical to the first-stage engines, but modified to operate in the vacuum of space. Like the main Merlin engines, the vacuum engine is designed and manufactured in-house by SpaceX. The engine is designed to burn for about six minutes, and can be shut down and restarted multiple times as needed to deliver different payloads into different orbits. The engine is housed inside the rocket's interstage.

First Stage

Three cores make up the first stage of Falcon Heavy. The side cores, or boosters, are connected at the base and at the top of the center core's liquid oxygen tank. The three cores, with a total of 27 Merlin engines, generate 22,819 kilonewtons (5.13 million pounds) of thrust at liftoff. Shortly after liftoff the center core engines are throttled down. After the side cores separate, the center core engines throttle back up to full thrust.

Cores: 3
Engines: 27
Thrust At Sea Level: 22,819kN5,130,000 lbf
Thrust In Vacuum: 24,681kN5,548,500 lbf

Boosters

Each of Falcon Heavys side cores, or boosters, is equivalent to the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket with nine Merlin engines. At liftoff, the boosters and the center core all operate at full thrust. Shortly after liftoff, the center core engines are throttled down. After the side cores separate, the center core engines throttle back up.

Three Nine-Engine Cores

Inside each of Falcon Heavy's three cores is a cluster of nine Merlin engines. These same engines power Falcon 9, enabling efficiencies that make Falcon Heavy the most cost-effective heavy-lift launch vehicle in the world. With a total of 27 first-stage engines, Falcon Heavy has engine-out capability that no other launch vehicle can matchunder most payload scenarios, it can sustain more than one unplanned engine shutdown at any point in flight and still successfully complete its mission.

Octaweb
The twenty-seven Merlin engines that power Falcon Heavy's three cores are arranged in an Octaweb structure, with eight engines surrounding one center engine on each core.

Merlin Engine
The Merlin engine that powers all three Falcon Heavy cores was developed internally by SpaceX, drawing upon a long heritage of space-proven engines. A key design at the heart of Merlin was first used for the Apollo lunar landing module.

Landing Legs
Falcon Heavy was designed to be fully reusable. Both the center core and side boosters carry landing legs, which will land each core safely on Earth after takeoff.

Falcon Heavy Structure
The tanks of Falcon Heavy's three first-stage cores and second stage are made of aluminum-lithium alloy, a material made stronger and lighter than aluminum by the addition of lithium.

Grid Fins
Falcon Heavy's first stage is equipped with hypersonic grid fins which manipulate the direction of the stage's lift during reentry.

Fig. 1
Composite fairing after separation.

Fig. 1

Fairing
SpaceX's payload fairing, a composite structure fabricated in-house by SpaceX, protects satellites during delivery to low-Earth orbit (LEO), geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) and beyond.