SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk took to Instagram earlier today to post the first draft animation video showing a Falcon Heavy launching into space. "[Falcon Heavy] is twice the thrust of the next largest rocket currently flying and ~2/3 thrust of the Saturn V moon rocket," Musk wrote in the Instagram post.
Nearly three times as powerful as the Falcon 9, the Heavy features three rocket cores, with two acting as strap-on boosters on the sides. Each booster carries nine Merlin engines, enough to generate "more than five million pounds [2.3 million kg] of thrust at lift-off," according to SpaceX. And, as the animation video shows, these cores are all built to be fully reusable.
As Musk previously announced in July, the Falcon Heavy is set for its highly anticipated maiden launch this November. When it successfully lifts off, it'll become the most powerful rocket available today.
However, as Musk noted in his post, there's a "lot that can go wrong in the November launch." For instance, each rocket core has to be able to return and land successfully. That's like landing three Falcon 9s at the same time, and we all know how difficult it has been to perfect just one landing.
Still, the world looks forward with hope as the success of the Falcon Heavy launch would put SpaceX one step closer to realizing their plans for missions to Mars.
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