NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) hopes to make its debut launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket by the end of this year, according to a top official.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said March 9 once the company launches Falcon Heavy it will then have three more flights to make in the following six months. The Falcon Heavy debut has been delayed since at least last summer. Its arrival is very anticipated as United Launch Alliance (ULA) is currently the only heavy lift provider for Defense Department missions.
SpaceX says Falcon Heavy will be able to lift into orbit over 53 metric tons (117,000 pounds), equivalent to a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel. It will be composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores, which will use 27 Merlin engines together to generate nearly 4 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.
Shotwell also said SpaceX should find out later this month whether it will be awarded the contract for the Air Force’s first competed mission in almost a decade. SpaceX was the sole bidder for a Global Positioning System III (GPS III) mission slated for 2018. Incumbent ULA declined to compete for the mission for a variety of reasons, including that it did not have the accounting systems in place to certify that funds from other government contracts would not benefit the GPS III launch mission.
SpaceX has spent the last 18-24 months preparing to increase production. Shotwell said the company wants to increase its production rate to one rocket every two weeks. She said the current clip is one rocket every three weeks.
SpaceX hopes to launch its first recovered rocket in 2016. The company is counting on reusing first stages to dramatically reduce the cost of launches. Shotwell said fuel costs $1 million and she’d like for the first stage to cost “two-times or three-times” that. She also said she’d like to see a 30 percent reduction in overall price from re-use.
Shotwell’s remarks came at the Satellite 2016 conference produced by sister publication Defense Daily parent company Access Intelligence LLC. ULA is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Boeing [BA].