Talk:Falcon Heavy

Dragon xl

The text says that Dragon xl would be launched by the Falcon Heavy, but it has already been canceled in favor of starship. Can someone correct it? Fehér Zsigmond (talk) 10:44, 10 May 2023 (UTC)

Dragon XL has not been cancelled, it's still the default plan to resupply the Gateway. Starship will be used for landings. --mfb (talk) 04:15, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

Booster landing column - and other missing details from the launch history table

Shouldn't the list of FH launches include a column for whether the core and boosters successfully landed? It feels like this would be helpful for ease of reading, so people can see the outcome at a glance, and it would match the booster landing column in the List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches. Thedarkfourth (talk) 14:57, 4 June 2023 (UTC)

I was hoping to see the booster recoveries here. It seems a shame that the full list of Falcon launches has more detail on the FH launches than in this article. Any reason not to extract the FH entries from the full falcon list(s), eg showing all 3 core/booster ids., orbit, payload mass etc? - Rod57 (talk) 11:53, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

Query - Should we update infobox pic with Psyche launch - maybe - No

@Ergzay @Mfb should I update infobox image with psyche pics once nasa releases them. If I change it will be controversial so asked beforehand 122.187.144.98 (talk) 17:44, 11 October 2023 (UTC)

What does Psyche have to do with Falcon Heavy's infobox image? The infobox doesn't need to have the most recent Falcon Heavy launch in it. Ergzay (talk) 02:20, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

ok 122.187.144.98 (talk) 02:23, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

@Ergzay: The look of Falcon Heavy changed with the transition to Block 5, showing a more recent launch is better I think. The Psyche launch should give us nice free images from NASA. --mfb (talk) 04:14, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

@Mfb Okay, that's valid. I didn't take a close look at the image before, but if the camera angle is a worse angle then it might be better to keep this one. I don't think it's an obvious thing to decide to do before we've seen the images. Ergzay (talk) 07:28, 12 October 2023 (UTC)

It was a very cloudy/foggy launch, I think what we have in the article now is better. --mfb (talk) 15:44, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

Falcon Heavy has a payload limit well below the theoretical 60+ tons

According to the June 2022 GAO report on major NASA project.

″According to officials, the project office finalized the updated mass allocations for the HALO and the PPE in February 2022, though as of that date, the co-manifested vehicle mass was above the established mission design limits. If the combined mass of the co-manifested vehicle is too high, it could affect its ability to reach the correct lunar orbit. Further, project officials explained that mass affects the overall mission design because the Falcon Heavy has a mass limit. The project office is taking steps to try to reduce mass. For example, the project also created a mass recovery plan and is assessing mass reduction opportunities. The HALO and PPE projects are working with their respective contractors to manage mass. The project is evaluating whether it will need to off-load some components for initial launch, which would then need to be delivered to Gateway on a future logistics vehicle and installed on-orbit.″

The most current Falcon user guide from SpaceX gives an upper limit of just under 19,000kg (figure 3-4).

The launch mass of PPE+HALO appears to be the upper end of what FH can lift to LEO, not due to performance shortcomings but due to structural limits of the Falcon second stage. Ramlaen (talk) 19:48, 20 January 2024 (UTC)

References

• The user guide says, p11 & 13, contact SX for loads outside the curves given. The CG-mass curves seem to be for the 2 standard payload adapters. What is source for mass limit being due to 2nd stage structure ?

• Just to add another data point to this, the ISS deorbit vehicle will be >30t This combined with the PPE+HALO study showing no hard limits in their graph of performance but a smooth curve confirms that the "mass limit" discussed in the HALO+PPE refers to a limit of performance to the highly elliptical orbit, not a structural limit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.145.220.241 (talk) 19:49, 17 July 2024 (UTC)

Can we note payload to trans lunar injection

Since FH is/was to launch Dragon XL to Gateway, what is the best source we have for FH expendable (and reusable boosters) payload to Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) ? If nothing else, can we use NASA's payload calculation website (see archive-1) ? - Rod57 (talk) 08:27, 1 April 2024 (UTC)

Added 73.210.30.217 (talk) 06:03, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

Is the 2nd stage a standard Falcon 9 2nd stage

The FH centre/core is a strengthened F9 booster. Is the FH 2nd stage a standard or strengthened F9 2nd stage ? - Rod57 (talk) 12:20, 25 June 2024 (UTC)