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SpaceX was able to light for the first time a Block 5 variant of its Falcon Heavy rocket, also marking the second integrated static shot of the heavy launcher. According to SpaceX, the company will aim for an extraordinary four-day turnaround from static launch to launch, targeting take-off as early as 6:36 pm EDT (10:36 pm) on April 9th.
Captured in a spectacular 4K video a few miles away, it seems that the giant rocket managed to light the 27 Merlin 1D engines in less than 3 to 4 seconds, an average duration for Falcon 9 but a little shorter than the 7- 10 seconds Falcon Heavy fired during preparations for his flight 1.
At the first-ever Integrated Ignition test of the Block 5 rocket, the 27 Merlin 1D engines were lit (nominally) in sequence, albeit just a handful of milliseconds apart. At the launch and launch of Falcon Heavy's first static light, CEO Elon Musk said performance was capped at around 92 percent, or 4.7 million pounds (~ 2115 metric tons) of thrust , for reasons not specified. If SpaceX decided to decapsulate Falcon Heavy's performance this time, the rocket could have produced more than 5.6 million pounds (2550 tonnes) of thrust and will – again, according to Musk – have "much more performance than the vehicle last year". In addition to the 8% increase in decommissioning rocket performance, the Falcon 9 Block 5 introduces an additional 10% increase in Merlin 1D thrust, increasing the maximum thrust of Falcon Heavy by 20%. in just one year.
With three times more boosters than a Falcon 9 single-core rocket, a Falcon Heavy static light produces essentially up to 100% more data (2 times more) than the Falcon 9, requiring a little more time for the engineers to analyze it to check the health of the vehicle. The ultimate goal is for the vast majority of this work to be done by the rocket itself, which ends up shining in the so-called "quick review" following static fires. But Falcon Heavy is likely to be too new of a rocket for that for now.
In order to alleviate the expectations of this highly anticipated launch, SpaceX has taken more than eight days to go from the Falcon Heavy Flight 1 static firing attempt to the actual ignition, an additional 13 days separating the success of the Static fire and the first official launch slot. The consequences of caution with Falcon Heavy could go as far as the almost complete destruction of SpaceX's 39X Launch Pad pad facilities, an absolutely essential foundation for the first attempt to launch Crew Dragon's crew. and the future launch of astronauts to the International Space Station. (ISS). As such, any unnecessary risk per se risks angering NASA and the US government in general, as it would also be fundamentally a conscious decision to jeopardize the stability of US access to the Space Station in the United States. aim to win a few days or weeks. out of a commercial launch schedule.
SpaceX typically provides an update via Twitter 15 to 60 minutes after a Falcon Preflight Static Test to indicate whether the data is generally of good quality or whether additional time is required to analyze the rocket performance. According to a tweet from the US Air Force 45th Space Wing removed since then, a healthy-looking static light fired from the Falcon Heavy Flight 2 would pave the way for an earlier launch attempt at 6:36 pm EDT (10:36 pm UTC ), April 9th.
This article will be updated with any additional information on Falcon Heavy's health and launch date targets as soon as it becomes available.
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