Tomorrow afternoon, SpaceX — Elon Musk’s other ambitious venture — will test out the engines on the Falcon Heavy, a beast of a rocket that the company boasts is easily be the most powerful rocket on the planet. The event was initially slated to take place last Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida before SpaceX pushed things back until Monday. And earlier today, word emerged that the test has been pushed back to tomorrow.
As for what the Falcon Heavy is, well, it’s fair to say it’s a jaw-dropping rocket of extreme proportions. To this point, SpaceX a few days ago took to Twitter and posted the following: “With more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff—equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft at full power—Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two.”
The Falcon Heavy, if all goes according to plan, will be used to launch heavy satellites into orbit. And if Elon Musk’s fantasy about colonizing Mars ever comes to be, the Falcon Heavy will certainly be able to transport a good deal of cargo. More specifically, the Falcon Heavy is capable of carrying more than 140,000 pounds of cargo.
Falcon Heavy is essentially the company’s Falcon 9 times three. It features three Falcon 9 first-stage boosters joined together with a second-stage on the middle one. It also has three times as many engines.
…
The Falcon Heavy will be without its featured load for the test. That’s been customary ever since a Falcon 9 exploded during a 2016 practice engine firing, destroying both rocket and satellite.
Indeed, Musk has said that the Falcon Heavy could very well explode, with Musk on Instagram last week noting that “excitement on launch day guaranteed, one way or another.”
