How SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch SHOCKED NASA Scientists 2023!

How SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch SHOCKED NASA Scientists 2023!
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This is Falcon Heavy. It costs $90m. For a mere $1b a year, or about 4% of NASA’s budget, we could launch it to every planet in every launch window. And that’s before the bulk discount.
One may criticize the Falcon Heavy rocket for having a short launch manifest, as it has only four launches in five years. There just aren't that many commercial customers right now for the heavier-lift rocket when a cheaper Falcon 9 or another medium-lift class of booster will suffice. But when one considers the more extreme cases—such as big Department of Defense missions to geostationary orbit or potential human exploration plans—the Falcon Heavy shines.
And indeed, even after SLS launched, this monster still proves itself to be an engineering masterpiece, shocking NASA scientists.
Find out the real reason behind this in today's episode of Alpha Tech:

When it was envisioned in 2010, NASA’s SLS was tipped to be the world’s largest and most powerful rocket in addition to being extraordinarily cheap and quick to build due to ample use of existing components, such as engines and boosters from the Space Shuttle program.
Back then the Starship was simply a concept, as was the Falcon Heavy, the first attempt at heavy orbital vehicle undertaken by SpaceX, and roughly comparable in its payload capacity to the SLS.
Then, in 2014, NASA administrator Charlie Bolden uttered a quote that would go on to be ridiculed and memified ever since. “Let’s be very honest. We don’t have a commercially available heavy-lift vehicle. The Falcon 9 Heavy may some day come about. It’s on the drawing board right now. SLS is real.”
Two years later, in 2016, Bolden said he still did not believe commercial companies were up to the task. "If you talk about launch vehicles, we believe our responsibility to the nation is to take care of things that normal people cannot do, or don’t want to do, like large launch vehicles," Bolden said. "I’m not a big fan of commercial investment in large launch vehicles just yet."
How SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch SHOCKED NASA Scientists 2023!

[Tampahop]

SpaceX is amazing. They are doing roughly a launch a week like it was nothing out of the ordinary. You no longer hear about it because it is routine! NASA could never have imagined this, let alone actually do it themselves. As much as I support NASA and space exploration/exploitation, it is time to let commercial companies like SpaceX handle future deliveries. They have earned it by proving they can do it reliably and efficiently.

[mikemcc]

The problem with giving any Business to Space X is the lack of Pocket funds to SPECIAL Party's Pockets.

[keithhall]

Under no circumstance compute the quality of your barnyard fowl prior to completion of their incubation period!

[tweet]

NASA- We could be on Mars in ten years with extra funding & research grants...
SpaceX- Hold my beer...

[sweetypie]

SpaceX….a team of younger, brighter and driven minds determined to excel in the new age of space exploration. NASA is in the rear view mirror. 🇺🇸

[benjaminj]

“Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.” – Robert A. Heinlein.

Space-X has proved time and time again that just because you (scientists) think it can't be done, doesn't mean it won't be done.

[craigpalmer]

always follow the money no country is rich enouugh for sls and changing the launch tower for every launch

[tehaury]

The fact that he said “sediment” instead of “sentiment”, is apropos considering the condition of NASA and Boeing.

[daeron]

And if SpaceX develops Raptor-2 versions of Falcon-9 and Falcon-Heavy, SLS would be the small boy on the block.

[bazoo]

Another pretty good one (except for the title - NASA _scientists_ were not shocked - politicians were.)

What needs to be stressed more is that SLS is fully political project. It is known as "Senate Launch System" as it was conceived solely to keep all those companies harking as far back as Apollo program financed, that is, keeping those jobs in as many congressional districts as possible. When SLS was started, NASA had _no_ mission for it. Artemis was invented to give it a job.

There _is_ a degree of "not invented here" mentality in NASA, even among astronauts, but by now they all changed their tune. However, I don't think that NASA _engineers_ were "shocked" by Falcon Heavy once F9 flew reliably. They knew it is not trivial to "bolt together" three core stages as in Delta Heavy (not as trivial Musk, not being an engineer, thought it would be), but they knew it was feasible, and SpaceX had sufficient engineering talent to pull it of if they set their mind to it.

SLS will die, but congresscritters will find some other way do distribute the pork among their owners. I just hope it won't be at NASA's expense - just do the usual, pretend there is some grave "national security" threat and continue the cycle of starting new miracle weapons system programs, cancelling them just around entering the service, rinse, repeat.

[Coocoocachoo]

Fantastic video.

Very, very well put.

Thanks for making these videos!!

[kingcruze]

Very eye opening. In my opinion as being a person from the NASA era watching all of the practice launch missions and moon landings, this should not be a competition but a joint operation as both NASA and SpaceX would benefit from it. Along with all of us. The sooner the better.

[toledojeeper]

I’m 100 miles away from Kennedy and still get a nice view of the launch and the boosters coming back down .

[xoxide]

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING POINTS.

Your very correct and on the right track and i wish they would change direction to give us more science and hard locations in space, the moon and beyond.

[manni]

Awesome information! So precise ‘n concise!! Thanks for sharing it!!

[TraderRick]

This analysis makes a lot of sense. Thank you.

[anthonyforster]

I really love your videos
They are very informative
Also, they make me proud to be American again and hopeful for the future I was born in 1970 we were supposed to already be living on the moon and had a colony on Mars by now
Glad to see the world start moving in that direction again I think if we want to survive as a species, then we need to diversify are living location

[Snoodlehootberry]

I have said it over and over again on different content providers covering space. Once starship becomes fully operational, SLS will be obsolete if they reckon that SLS will launch once every two or three years that means the starship will be fully operational, probably before the next SLS launch, making it obsolete after only one launch, possibly two.

[slawomirkulinski]

NASA didn't really have to spend that much money to learn that using old components is a dead-end.

Using existing components to build a new system bears higher risk of price hike as components will have to be adopted to be used in a different capacity. This means that most of the advantages of these components are no longer advantages but a dead weight. So if you end up with that dead weight the only thing you can do is to introduce workarounds to limit the impact. This however bumps the price tag again.

I think that knowing that SLS is still a sort of miracle. Miracle that it was actually completed.

[skipperg]

Falcon Heavy needs high energy upper stage.
Maybe methane one with choked down Raptor engine?