The Falcon Heavy Just Won Another Big Contract From NASA
The Falcon Heavy is an incredible launch vehicle with a very interesting history. After successful initial launches years ago, the heavy lift rocket became dormant and no longer had any missions for multiple years. Thankfully, after this long period without any launches, the Falcon Heavy is not only scheduled for multiple upcoming missions, but continuing to gain more contracts for the future.
Specifically, just a few days ago NASA announced that the agency has awarded a NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract to Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) in Hawthorne, California, to provide launch service for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission. Expected to launch in 2026, this adds on to the growing list of Falcon Heavy missions.
Looking at the rocket’s initial flights, they all went practically perfect. With the exception of losing a booster during the adding process and shipment back to land, the payloads were delivered and multiple boosters were recovered. There are a few reasons for the lack of missions in recent years. Here I will go more in-depth into this recent NASA award, Falcon Heavy’s schedule, and what to expect in the coming months.
Recent Contract
Only days ago NASA released information about a future launch using SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket. Specifically, on July 19th, NASA awarded a NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract to SpaceX, to provide launch service for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission. The Roman Space Telescope is the top-priority large space mission recommended by the 2010 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey. NLS II is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. The total cost for NASA to launch the Roman telescope is approximately $255 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs. The telescope’s mission currently is targeted to launch in October 2026, as specified in the contract, on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The telescope’s science program will include dedicated investigations to tackle outstanding questions in cosmology, including the effects of dark energy and dark matter, and exoplanet exploration. Roman also includes a substantial general investigator program to enable further studies of astrophysical phenomena to advance other science goals. The telescope was previously known as the Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST), but it was later renamed in honor of Dr. Nancy Grace Roman for her extraordinary work at NASA, which paved the way for large space telescopes. NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch vehicle program management of the SpaceX launch service. The Roman Space Telescope project is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
There is one main reason the agency chose the Falcon Heavy to launch and deliver this telescope to its destination. This reason revolves around the exact position within the solar system that the telescope is headed to. Specifically, in order to make Roman’s sensitive measurements possible, the telescope will observe from a vantage point about 930,000 miles (1.5 million km) away from Earth in the direction opposite the Sun. At this special place in space, L2, where gravitational forces balance to keep objects in steady orbits with very little assistance. Roman’s barrel-like shape will help block out unwanted light from the Sun, Earth, and Moon, and the spacecraft’s distant location will help keep the instruments cool. The thermal stability of an observatory at L2 will provide a ten-fold improvement beyond Hubble in much of the data Roman will gather. The amount of detail these observations will reveal is directly related to the size of the telescope’s mirror, since a larger surface gathers more light. Roman’s primary mirror is 7.9 feet (2.4 meters) across. While it’s the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope’s main mirror, it is less than one-fourth the weight. Roman’s mirror weighs only 410 pounds (186 kilograms) thanks to major improvements in technology. The other reason for choosing the Falcon Heavy is the vehicle’s mission success. While it has only launched 3 times, each has successfully delivered its payload. This type of reliability is especially important for big projects like this telescope meant to change how we view the Universe.
Upcoming Launches
Now that we have looked at the recent news from NASA and what this contract means for the Falcon Heavy, we can take a closer look at the launch vehicle itself and its upcoming busy launch schedule. Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb) Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy. Falcon Heavy is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. The last launch of this rocket was in June of 2019. Since then, the Falcon Heavy has had no launches or missions. Thankfully, after around 3 years, this is set to change very soon. In addition to the new contract from NASA just announced, the heavy lift rocket has a lot of upcoming missions as well. Only a few months from now in September the Falcon Heavy is scheduled to lift off apart of ViaSat-3 Americas Arcturus. In this case, Falcon Heavy was originally slated to launch the Viasat-2 satellite, but due to delays an Ariane 5 launch vehicle was used instead. Viasat maintained the launch option and will launch its next Ka-band satellite, which will serve either of the Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) or Americas regions, using Falcon Heavy. The upper stage of Falcon Heavy will deploy the satellite into a near-geosynchronous orbit that will include a coasting stage several hours long between burns. Arcturus was added as an independent secondary payload in late September 2021.
Next, only a few months later another launch is scheduled in November with the U.S. Space Force for $317 million. This is the first SpaceX launch of Phase 2 USAF contract, likely to be on a Falcon Heavy, and likely requiring a vertical integration building and an increased fairing size. Will use three new boosters, with the center core in an expendable configuration (no grid fins or landing gear), while the two side-boosters will be targeting a simultaneous landing on drone ships, JRTI and ASOG as the mission requirements are similar as of USSF-44 mission. This would be an especially interesting mission to watch as for the first time SpaceX would attempt to land two side boosters on drone ships. These are only some of the missions scheduled months from now but the list continues on.
Focusing back on the rocket, there are a few features that make it stand out within the space industry. Three cores make up the first stage of Falcon Heavy. The side cores, or boosters, are connected on the nosecone, the interstage, and on the octaweb. Shortly after liftoff, the center core engines are throttled down. After the side cores separate, the center core engines throttle back up to full thrust. Falcon Heavy’s first stage incorporates 27 Merlin engines across three aluminum-lithium alloy rocket cores containing liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) propellant. Falcon Heavy generates more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. The Falcon Heavy first stage is equipped with 12 landing legs (4 on each booster) made of state-of-the-art carbon fiber with aluminum honeycomb. All 12 landing legs are stowed along the side of each booster until just prior to landing.
Between the first and second stage is the interstage. The interstage is a composite structure that connects the center core on the first stage and second stages and holds the release and separation system. Falcon Heavy is equipped with 12 hypersonic grid fins, four on each booster, positioned at the base of the interstage or nosecone which orients by moving the center of pressure during reentry. Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX for use on its Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles. Merlin engines use RP-1 and liquid oxygen as rocket propellants in a gas-generator power cycle. The Merlin engine was originally designed for recovery and reuse. Finally, the Merlin Vacuum features a larger exhaust section and a significantly larger expansion nozzle to maximize the engine’s efficiency in the vacuum of space. Its combustion chamber is regeneratively cooled, while the expansion nozzle is radiatively cooled. At full power, the Merlin Vacuum engine operates with the greatest efficiency ever for an American-made hydrocarbon rocket engine.
Conclusion
It has been around 3 years since the last time we watched the Falcon Heavy take flight. Thankfully, this is set to change only months from now. Not to mention the addition of more future contracts from agencies like NASA. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.