SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company, will launch the world’s most powerful rocket into orbit later today. The Falcon Heavy has a thrust equivalent to about eighteen Boeing 747s and is capable of lifting 27 tons into space at once.
So the rocket is only used when a large, heavy payload has to be carried to a remote destination, says Rob van den Berg, a space expert associated with the Sonnenburg observatory. This is the first time in more than three years that the Falcon Heavy has been taken out of storage. The last time the Falcon Heavy was launched into space, a red tesla roadster Put it in orbit around the Earth.
Military satellite on board
What’s on board this time is pretty much secret. It is a huge American satellite, details of which have not been disclosed. We only know that the satellite will be launched into a geostationary orbit, 36,000 kilometers from Earth, says van den Berg.
Falcon Heavy is a reusable rocket. This means that the boosters will return to Earth after launch. “We call them boosters, but they’re just complete Falcon rockets that will land more than 8 minutes after launch.”
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The weather forecast is good, so van den Berg expects few problems for the launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which is scheduled for 14:41 Dutch time. It’s the 50th launch of the SpaceX rocket this year, “and that’s a record,” says Van den Berg. By the way, another six similar ones are scheduled to be launched this year.
