[ad_1]
The upcoming SpaceX launch of the Falcon Heavy will be a key milestone for the commercial and military perspectives of the rocket.
X
The Falcon Heavy on Friday made a test on a static fire engine on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, a day later than planned.
The launch of SpaceX was scheduled for Sunday, but now it looks like it will be postponed. According to meteorologists, showers and thunderstorms are also threats on Monday or Tuesday. The 45th Air Force Space Wing, in charge of launches at Cape Canaveral, tweeted that the new launch date would be Tuesday, but then abolished the post.
Every time the launch of SpaceX takes place, it will be the first for the Falcon Heavy with a paying customer and the first for a commercial customer.
The rocket, which is twice as powerful as any other, is used for its maiden flight in February 2018. Its payload was that of CEO Elon Musk. You're here (TSLA) Roadster, which is now in deep space and follows an elliptical orbit on Mars.
For the first commercial launch of the Falcon Heavy by SpaceX, the rocket will carry a communications satellite built by Lockheed Martin (LMT) for the Saudi Arabsat company.
SpaceX will also try to recover the three boosters of the first stage: two on land and one on a drone. Last year, the central stage booster missed the drone and crashed into the ocean, while both boosters landed safely.
Lockheed shares edged up 0.4% to 300.86 on the stock market today. Tesla climbed 2.4% to 274.16.
Falcon Heavy SpaceX launch key for the air force
The Air Force will closely monitor the launch of the Falcon Heavy. While the smallest SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has been licensed for national security missions, the Falcon Heavy has yet to prove itself to the Pentagon.
The army said it required three Falcon Heavy launches before conducting a national security mission.
After the Arabsat mission, another SpaceX launch of the Falcon Heavy is planned for June, when the Air Force will use it for a non-national security mission. This launch will include research payloads for NASA and private institutes, such as the Planetary Society's LightSail.
The SpaceX Launch Manifesto includes another Falcon Heavy mission for Viasat, but we do not know when it will take place.
The missions are preparing a launch of SpaceX in mid-2020 for the Air Force, which will place a ranked national security payload on the Falcon Heavy. SpaceX won the $ 130 million contract, beating legacy launch provider United Launch Alliance, a Lockheed-Boeing (BA) joint venture.
Heavy rocket market
But even if the Falcon Heavy launches are going well, the market for large payloads that would require such a heavy-lift rocket could shrink as attention turns to small satellites.
The Air Force announced Thursday it had bought five small launches at Rocket Lab, Vox Space and others for $ 25 million, while it plans to send 21 small test satellites. in the space this year.
Still, the market for military launches, while relatively small, is lucrative, said Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Safety Project and director of defense budget analysis at CSIS.
Large spy satellites equipped with telescopes for high resolution images as well as antenna networks for signal intelligence will need heavy rockets.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
The future of NASA may depend on this huge rocket that has not yet flown
Boeing's response to the historic SpaceX flight delayed again in the middle of capsule production
Follow the news of the space industry
Receive IBD's "How to invest" news bulletin for free
Looking for the best stocks to buy and watch? Start here
[ad_2]
Source link