Mohith AgadiPioneer in the field of manufacturing and launching spacecraft SpaceX has added a new feather to its cap with the static test fire of Falcon Heavy last week at McGregor, Texas. Though performing static test fire is not common among other private spacecraft companies but SpaceX has always done it before test launch. Falcon Heavy will be world’s heaviest and most powerful rocket comprising of three boosters similar to three Falcon 9 boosters attached together. Static test fire is done to check the workability and functioning of the rocket. The test ensures that the rocket won’t explode because of the fire and facilitate engineers to improve the rocket with relative data.
All the three boosters of Falcon Heavy are reusable thus it will be less expensive to operate than other heavy lift launched vehicle like space launch system which NASA has been trying to develop for last seven years. Falcon Heavy was in Elon Musk’s mind since 2008 after the successful launch of Falcon 9 but as they say”it’s not rocket science”, it took Musk three years to announce Falcon Heavy, scheduling 2013 as its first flight launch. At first it seems to be a simple task of attaching three Falcon 9 core boosters but to make it possible practically it took several years and the setbacks suffered by falcon 9 in the past also resulted in delays in this project. But now with the success of static test fire test launch is supposed to be performed late in the summer of 2017. And if that is successful, then falcon Heavy will soon be carrying satellites and cargo to space.
