Space X Falcon Heavy To Lift Off In 2013
Are launch costs too high and weighing down your bottom line? ELON MUSK, Space X founder, pitches his FALCON HEAVY booster as right for the job to lift your prospects! In a DISCOVERY NEWS ARTICLE, Musk says, "...WE CAN REALISTICALLY START TO CONTEMPLATE MISSIONS LIKE A MARS SAMPLE RETURN, WHICH REQUIRES A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF LIFT CAPABILITY BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO SEND A LANDER TO MARS THAT STILL HAS ENOUGH PROPELLANT TO RETURN TO EARTH." PLANETARY SCIENCE BLOG notes, the Falcon Heavy is second only to the SATURN V rocket in payload and escape velocity. The article adds 20-25 percent of mission cost is in the launch and idea of lowering your costs from 10,000 to 1,000 per pound a major selling point! A debut flight is scheduled for Vandenberg AFB in 2013. You can visit the FALCON HEAVY WEBPAGE at the SPACE X WEBSITE for more details. The sales pitch is a familiar one--"MORE BANG FOR THE BUCK"-- but will bottomline decisions translate into space exploration success? Do you trust companies and corporations to do the right thing in space?