SpaceX To Launch Most Falcon Heavy Expensive Payload Humiliated NASA...

$5 billion for a mission of NASA a staggering sum that would make any hardworking taxpayer gasp so it would be bad if that number continued to increase due to Mission delays or simply opting for an Expendable rocket at an exorbitant price fortunately that won't be the case with spacex's Falcon heavy rocket and in October with the launch of one of NASA's most expensive missions the mighty rocket once again reinforced the belief that even if demand declines the Falcon heavy will never get old find out everything in today's Tech map episode but before we begin let's subscribe to the channel to stay up toate with the latest space news in October we will witness a special mission of the SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket given that the Workhorse rocket is taking charge to launch one of NASA's most expensive planetary science missions Europa Clipper up to $5 billion to the distant destination of Jupiter the Europa Clipper spacecraft will fly by Mars then back by Earth using the gravity of each planet to increase its momentum these so-called gravity assists will provide Eur a Clipper with the velocity needed to reach Jupiter in 2030 in a statement on August 28th NASA announced that the mission remains on track with a launch period opening on Thursday October 10th the next major milestone for Clipper is key decision Point e on Monday September 9th in which the agency will decide whether the project is ready to proceed to launch and Mission operations NASA will provide more information at a mission overview and media briefing targeted for that same week this is a positive sign for a mission which was inou out in July whether it should be delayed at that time NASA announced that testing of the transistors showed some were likely to fail in the high radiation environment created by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field it leads to the challenges of launching a mission in time NASA said they would determine how many transistors may be susceptible and how they will perform in flight they were evaluating options for maximizing the transistor's longevity in the Jupiter system fortunately the mission team finally completed the testing of trans transistors used in the power supply system on the spacecraft analysis of the results suggests the transistors can support the Baseline mission NASA said Europa Clipper is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon heavy during a 3-we window that opens on October 10th the heavy lift rocket was chosen for its affordability reliability and Engineering adaptability NASA in its fiscal year 2021 budget request argued that a commercial launch could save the agency over $1.5 billion compared to using a space launch system rocket due to Europa Clippers value and complexity NASA required that vehicles have performed at least three successful launches including at least two successful consecutive launches fortunately by then Falcon heavy had flown three times all successfully although it has not launched since June 2019 NASA's SLS had its Maiden launch delayed to 2022 alternative vehicles with the performance required for the mission such as blue origins new Glenn and United launch alliance's Vulcan Centaur still stayed on the ground for furthermore launching on Falcon heavy will reduce launch vibration protecting the payload better the SLS a massive rocket relied on two solid rocket boosters during launch generating significant vibrations SLS program officials had assured NASA leadership that the twisting load a measure of the Rocket's twist and Shake would be within acceptable limits however subsequent tests conducted by NASA revealed a startling reality the actual twisting load was nearly double the SLS program's estimates for all these reasons the agency decided to make the switch to the Falcon heavy on the other hand launching Europa Clipper on Falcon heavy rather than SLS results in trade-offs on both cost and schedule SLS would have offered a faster ride for Europa Clipper an SLS launch would have allowed the spacecraft to fly directly to Jupiter arriving Less Than 3 years after launch with Falcon heavy Europa Clipper will make gravity assist flybys of Mars and Earth arriving at Jupiter 5 and 1/2 years after launch while the time trade off is not ideal the agency decided it was the better overall option to select the SpaceX rocket based on the above mentions for SpaceX and space enthusiasts it would be better to see Falcon heavy launch this Mission this will fulfill Falcon Heavy's Manifest this year which is inherently few in number due to the low Demand on the market in 2024 the Falcon heavy is expected to play a role in a limited number of launches with only one Falcon heavy launch conducted so far this year namely the go U Mission which took place in June this has been opposite to spacex's 2024 ambitious goal aiming for 148 launches across all its rocket families primarily driven by the deployment of starlink satellites and other commercial missions on Falcon 9 the Falcon Heavy's utilization is constrained primarily by shifts in the satellite launch market and the increased capabilities of the Falcon 9 rocket the Falcon Heavy's design is more suited for launching large payloads but the commercial satellite Market is increasingly favoring smaller payloads as a result many satellite operators are opting for medium lift Rockets like the Falcon 9 which can carry heavier payloads than originally expected due to upgrades the Falcon 99's cost of approximately $67 million per launch is also more appealing compared to the Falcon Heavy's $97 million making it the preferred choice for most missions realizing the dramatically Rising demand a long ago SpaceX moved lots and lots of optimizations espe especially on the Merlin engine which was originally slated for heavy to Falcon 9 over time furthermore there has been a significant drop in orders for large geostationary satellites which were once the primary market for heavy lift Rockets factors contributing to this decline include the long-term cycles of Fleet replacement by Major satellite operators and the emergence of new technologies such as non-geostationary satellite constellations which do not require the heavy lifting capabilities of the Falcon heavy another reason is the development of Starship despite its impressive capabilities the Falcon heavy is viewed as an interim vehicle spacex's focus is increasingly shifting towards the development of the Starship which is intended to replace both Falcon 9 and Falcon heavy for a broader range of missions including crude space flight and interplanetary travel this shift indicates that Falcon heavy may not have a long-term role in spacex's future plans nevertheless for many people Falcon heavy never gets old each launch of this masculine rocket attracts a huge of public attention even though 6 years have passed since its first launch and its number of launches so far is just counted on your fingers clearly its Maiden launch in 2018 is a legendary event for many people the hotel in the area is completely sold out the parking lots are parked the reason is very simple this is not a typical day in Space Coast Falcon heavy at that time is the biggest rocket in the world with 70 m in height and 3.7 m in diameter it consists of three mod ified strapped together first stages of spacex's Workhorse Falcon 9 rocket contemporary Rockets such as Russia's soos are just 45.6 m in height and 10.3 m in diameter powered by Merlin 1D generating more than 5 million PBS of thrust at liftoff it is built as the world's most powerful operational booster since NASA's Saturn 5 more notably the separation system that the Workhorse rocket uses was something shocking Elon Musk said before the Rockets made in launch lach that the separation system that tosses off the side boosters never been tested before in space so that's going to be a very big deal for that to work even so far the sight of both rocket sides breaking apart from the core after liftoff has still stoked the viewer's emotions and the SpaceX CEO is not exceptional on July 1st he shared a clip recording that surreal scene on x as a way to arouse Pride the successful first launch of Falcon heavy was truly a blessing because it then paved the way for SpaceX is New Era where they won lucrative contracts to launch the biggest satellite in the world indeed a year after the successful demo flight SpaceX signed five commercial contracts worth $500 to $750 million meaning that it had managed to cover the development cost of the rocket which was more than $500 million not to mention the orders did arrive before the incredible test flight which belonged to the 2012 first Falcon heavy launch contract with DOD SpaceX As We Know had an extraordinary year in 2023 with a total of 98 launches including 91 Falcon 9 five Falcon heavy rockets and two Starship Rockets This Record topped its previous annual record of 61 orbital launches in 2022 not to mention the number of launches in 2022 is nearly double that of 2021 with 33 launches showing the Titanic growth of spacex's Rocket operation in recent years John Edwards SpaceX vice president of Falcon launch Vehicles wrote on X that musk suggested a goal of 100 launches as a thought experiment I remember when Elon Musk first threw out a goal of 100 launches as a thought experiment intended to unlock our thinking as to how we might accelerate Falcon across all levels of production and launch only a few years later and here we are I'm so incredibly proud to work with the best team on Earth and so excited to see what we achieve next year he also shared about the 2024 goal SpaceX officials have said the company aims to launch as many as 144 Falcon missions in 2024 as it continues to deploy satellites for the starlink system that drives a major portion of its $180 billion valuation keep in mind that those 144 launches just include the launches of Falcon 9 and Falcon heavy not to mention starship's test flights so how does SpaceX plan to hit its goal Kiko donev spacex's vice president of launch has become a good voice for the company for those wanting to follow spacex's insane launch rates donev said in ax post we are aiming for 144 launches in 2024 12 per month the launch system pads recovery flight Hardware needs to be capable of 13 per month so we can play catchup when plan maintenance debacles and weather inevitably slow us down so how is it going according to musk's recent tweet SpaceX is doing a major launch every roughly 3 days now next year a launch every roughly 2 days we will probably deliver close to 90% of payload Mass to Earth orbit and Beyond this year with the launching of a mission roughly every 3 days SpaceX is highly likely to hit the century mark this year the launch Cadence of one every 3 days is a significant forward step compared to one Mission every 3.9 days previously and it will evolve to a launch every roughly 2 Days in 2025 it's incredibly amazing how SpaceX makes significant technological leaps forward in such a short period of time while making it appear simple despite the fact that these goals are extremely difficult and plagued with technological challenges SpaceX is truly revolutionizing space exploration the rapid pace of launches demonstrates that they are on track to deliver nearly 90% of the total payload Mass to Earth orbit and Beyond this year this includes a mix of commercial satellite launches government contracts and missions for its starlink internet constellation which constitutes a significant portion of its launch manifest the goal of 90% of all Earth payload to Orbit later this year was also mentioned in elon's May tweet SpaceX might exceed 90% of all Earth payload to Orbit later this year one Starship is launching at high rate probably more than 99% has to be or we can't build a city on mars or base on moon we file almost no patents so nothing stopping competition from copying us through the Tweet he mentioned the more ambitious goal of more than 99% of delivering the payload to orbit once Starship launches at the high rate spacex's incredible achievement is shocking for any long-standing space company that boasts a history spanning hundreds of years in particular it is NASA with its giant orange rocket SLS which costs more than $4 billion per launch and will only launch once in 2022 even though its development began in 2011 SLS is slightly complicated in that it is expected to come in various combinations its first variation block one one will stand 322 ft tall and weigh 5.75 million lb when it launches block 1 will produce 8.8 million PB of thrust which is 15% more than Saturn 5 produced it will be able to send more than 27 metric tons or 59,500 lb into orbits beyond the moon in its block 2 configuration SLS will produce 9.5 million PBS of thrust and will be able to lift more more than 46 metric tons or 10,400 lb to deep space Starship is set to be taller than SLS standing at 400 ft with its cargo and booster stage combined according to SpaceX its super heavy booster stage will be able to provide 17 million PBS of thrust orbital capacity figures publicly available on the NASA and SpaceX websites aren't directly comparable for example NASA says SLS will be able to launch 46 metric tons to Deep deep space while SpaceX says Starship will be able to launch more than 100 metric tons into low earth orbit This is complicated by the fact that SLS is intended to go straight to its destination while there are plans for Starship to reach Earth orbit refuel via another Starship and then continue its Journey which would boost its range and payload capability however an important aspect the SLS is not a reusable system the Starship on the other hand aims to be spacex's first fully reusable rocket the Falcon 9 and Falcon heavy are partly reusable the capabilities of Starship and SLS may be comparable but the pace of their progress is starkly different SLS funding started in 2011 3 years before SpaceX broke ground for its Spaceport at boka Chica Beach the debut SLS flight occurred in November 2022 a 25-day long mission that sent an uncrewed Orion capsule to lunar orbit and back with the fifth Starship launch scheduled in September spacex's effort has left NASA behind in the dust and that just about wraps it up for today's episode thank you and we look forward to seeing you next time