Today SpaceX showed off the assembled Falcon Heavy in a set of 3 photos, showing it from above (on it’s side, really) on down to the engines themselves – our first look at the actual rocket, rather than a mockup.
Of course, all it is is 3 Falcon 9 1st stages strapped together, but it’s a design that, in principle, works – it’s the same concept that Delta IV Heavy uses, and a concept that is possible, but has yet to be implemented in, the Atlas V. You get more thrust, more raw power, and thus can lift a heavier payload into orbit or, for what Falcon Heavy is better designed to do, send a heavier payload out into deep space away from Earth orbit.
That’s a thing to note, too – Falcon Heavy uses the same payload fairing as the standard Falcon 9 and thus cannot carry anything larger than what Falcon 9 can – it’s got more power to carry something heavier into a given orbit, which can still prove useful, but that still somewhat limits the usefulness of the launch vehicle.
I’ll save my detailed thoughts for a future article near test flight time.
Here’s the pictures.
Falcon Heavy at the Cape pic.twitter.com/hizfDVsU7X
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2017