Thanks to Google’s $1 billion cooperation, Elon Musk’s SpaceX is the winner in the commercial race to space.
Real life’s Iron Man, Elon Musk is making no joke of this endeavor. The company has made the first reusable rocket. After a very televised crash landing earlier this month, Musk took to Twitter to announce that the work wasn’t done. Still, even in the crash video you can see the two boosters landing in perfect harmony.
To make sure everyone else is taking him just as seriously, SpaceX posted a concept video this week on exactly what the reusable rockets, Falcon 9, can do together. Falcon Heavy, the “world’s most powerful rocket” can not only make a controlled re-entry and landing to Earth after space travel, but it can do so with baggage. With the ability to lift into orbit over 53,000kg, the rocket will comprise of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores, while costing a third of the cost of a rocket that can lift the same amount. Falcon Heavy will carry large payloads into orbit, such as satellites, but will also be able to carry the Dragon spacecraft, which currently takes cargo to and from the Space Station, but will eventually carry humans.
The concept video is set to what sounds suspiciously like Iron Man’s audio track, and it shows the Falcon Heavy taking off, separating the two boosters from the core, which immediately return. It then shows how the core delivers its payload and then uses its thrusters to position re-entry for a controlled landing on Earth