SpaceX updates the capabilities of its Falcon rockets on its website

[Buster's Uncle]

SpaceX updates the capabilities of its Falcon rockets on its website
The rockets can lift even more than the company thought
The Verge
By Loren Grush  on May 1, 2016 11:48 am@lorengrush


(SpaceX)



This weekend, SpaceX made a few updates to its website, changing the launch capabilities of its Falcon rockets. The company claims its Falcon 9 rocket can transport nearly twice as much weight into lower Earth orbit as originally listed. The upcoming Falcon Heavy — a much bigger version of the Falcon 9 that's currently in development — will be able to carry even more than the company said previously.

The biggest change was in regards to the Falcon 9. Originally, SpaceX listed the rocket as being able to launch close to 29,000 pounds into lower Earth orbit. Now, the Falcon 9 can launch more than 50,000 pounds to LEO, according to SpaceX. The company also claims the Falcon 9 can get a payload weighing 8,860 pounds to Mars. CEO Elon Musk indicated on Twitter that SpaceX didn't make any physical changes to the rocket's engines, but testing revealed the vehicle was even more robust.

Musk also noted that these max payload capacities refer to the expendable versions of its rockets. Those are the rockets that don't land after launch. He said the reusable rockets will be 30 to 40 percent less capable than the expendable versions, presumably due to fuel constraints.

The company also updated the launch capabilities of the Falcon Heavy, claiming the giant rocket can get even more weight into lower Earth orbit and on to Mars than before. The Falcon Heavy has yet to fly, though. SpaceX says the rocket's first flight will happen sometime in November 2016, but the rocket's debut has been pushed back a few times before.

The Falcon Heavy's performance capabilities will be crucial to SpaceX's plans to send spacecraft to Mars in 2018. The company announced this past week that it wants to send its Dragon cargo capsule to the Red Planet, to test out ways to land heavy payloads there. In order to start a Martian colony — SpaceX's long-term goal — the company is going to need to put a lot of hardware and supplies on Mars first. That means the Falcon Heavy will need to be able to transport a lot of weight into deep space.


http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/1/11549456/spacex-falcon-9-heavy-launch-capabilities-weight-mars

[Unorthodox]

I'm guessing this is the result of that super cooled fuel that was causing so many problems and delaying launches. 

They also don't show what a fully expendable launch would cost, only the standard payment plan. 

[Buster's Uncle]

At this point, they'd be lying if they gave a figure.

[Unorthodox]

It just looks fishy to me, the fine print under the cost noting it's only for the old specs, but everything else updated.  (and we won't even go into the fact they're charging considerably more to the government, that's at least partially the government's doing) 

[Buster's Uncle]

S'pose they're doing anything under the table the gub'ment is paying for by overpaying for what's on the books?

[Unorthodox]

There's a lot of extra stuff the gubment requires on their launches.  The other companies being brought up that the 'extra stuff' was standard (because it WAS) and structuring their entire systems around that stuff is a lot of the reason SpaceX is so much cheaper.   

[Buster's Uncle]

Are we still talking secret, off-the-books, congress-mustn't-know-because-they'd-blab, projects?

[Unorthodox]

No, I'm just too lazy to go look up sources to cite. 

[Unorthodox]

Here, Bill Nye gives a decent analysis. 

http://bigthink.com/videos/bill-nye-spacex-vs-nasa-who-wins-2

Both AF launches and NASA launches still require a lot of the expensive stuff done to your rocket. 

Boeing, Lockheed, etc, built their structure around Gubment first, with commercial capability on the side, because the gubment was the breadwinner.  With spaceX we're seeing Commercial first with gubment on the side emerging as a viable business plan, in part because the gubment is relaxing some of the other requirements. 

FOR EXAMPLE:

AF satellites insist you never tilt the satellite.  That means you have to ship the rocket parts separately to a facility that can either stack your rocket in place, or transport the rocket to the launch site vertically.  This is a lot of people and equipment that have to be at specific launch facilities that cost a grundle more to maintain.   

SpaceX commercial launches, you assemble the rocket and everything horizontally, wheel it over to the pad where it's tipped up, fueled, and hit the button. 

[Buster's Uncle]

I just want there to be more space-going...