Elon Musk Says Falcon 9 Heavy Rocket Could Successfully Go To Mars And Back

Posted by on April 5th, 2011

Elon Musk’s Space X promised a big announcement today and it was the unveiling of the Falcon Heavy. The short list of features: it can put 100,000 – 120,000 lbs. in orbit, has the thrust capacity of 15 Boeing 747s combined, is 30% the cost of previous rockets of this size, meets NASA requirements for human transport, can do the a trip to the ISS, moon or Mars(!!!) and back AND is ready to launch by the end of 2012.

Musk:

“Falcon Heavy would be capable of launching people as soon as we’ve proven it out with a few launches,” Musk said. “It opens up a wide range of possibilities, such as a mission to the moon or conceivably even Mars,” he said.

“First launch from our Cape Canaveral launch complex is planned for late 2013 or 2014,” Musk said.

M-A-R-S. Mars.

[Fox News]

2 Responses to “Elon Musk Says Falcon 9 Heavy Rocket Could Successfully Go To Mars And Back”

  1. Nate Says:
    April 6th, 2011 at 3:25 am

    I doubt he means that it would be able to do a Mars mission with just one launch, but with that lift capacity it could certainly help build a staging area in orbit for a larger mission.

  2. Andrew Mayne Says:
    April 6th, 2011 at 3:30 am

    It’s a two stage rocket that can escape earth’s orbit. From there it can do a launch trajectory that would take it to Mars.