Important Facts For Prelims
Falcon Heavy Rocket
- 08 Nov 2022
- 2 min read
Why in News?
Recently, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy rocket into a geosynchronous Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US.
- This is the fourth launch of the giant rocket system, and the first one in nearly three years since its last launch in 2019.
What is the Current Mission?
- The rocket is carrying satellites to space for the U.S. military in a mission named as US Space Force (USSF)-44.
- The mission deployed two spacecraft payloads, one of which is the TETRA 1 microsatellite created for various prototype missions in and around the geosynchronous earth orbit. The other payload is for national defence purposes.
- It will place the satellites for the Space Systems Command’s Innovation and Prototyping.
What is the Falcon Heavy Rocket?
- SpaceX claims Falcon Heavy to be the most powerful rocket in the world by a factor of two.
- The rocket has a height of 70 m, a width of 12.2 m and a mass of 1,420,788 kg.
- Falcon Heavy has 27 Merlin engines which together generate more than five million pounds of thrust at lift-off, equaling around eighteen 747 aircraft at full power which makes it the most capable rocket flying.
- Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX for use on its Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles.
- Merlin engines use RP-1 and liquid oxygen as rocket propellants in a gas-generator power cycle.
- These engines were designed for recovery and reuse.
- The rocket has a lifting capacity of around 64 metric tonnes into orbit.
- The Falcon Heavy uses three boosters for added thrust and lift capacity.
- SpaceX last launched its Falcon Heavy rocket in June 2019 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
- It carried 24 satellites as part of the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program-2.
