And yet it happened. Burn Falcon Heavy

    Finally, space enthusiasts and people who are not indifferent to rocket technology have waited for this event.

    Today, on January 24, at about 20:30 MSK, the Falcon Heavy rocket launcher (currently the most powerful operational rocket launcher) assembled at the standard LC-39A launch complex was burned.

    It burned for about 12 seconds with simultaneous operation of all 27 Merlin-1D engines. The total thrust of the PH during burning was approximately 2300 ton-force.



    Judging by the second video from the start, the start of the engine stages was either multi-temporal: first the central unit, then 2 side ones, or stepwise: first in the low-thrust mode, then transferred to full thrust. Most likely was the first option.

    We see a similar number of working engines at the start for the first time since H-1. The short burning time (taking into account the complete development of the blocks separately) is also determined by the launch capabilities: the table supports holding the rocket must withstand an initial load of about 900 tons, which grows every second taking into account the reduction in the weight of the rocket. The gas channel itself is also quite seriously loaded and requires cooling during testing, which also limits the testing time.

    In fact, the cyclogram of the operation of the complex and the PH completely imitated the real launch only without interrupting the rocket from the launch pad and its flight.

    Judging by the information from Twitter Ilona Mask, the test passed normally.

    1. The first video (author - twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF .) The operator was quite close to the start, somewhere in 5 kilometers. The video clearly shows the moment of launching all the remote control (cotton and shock wave) and the crackling noise of jets characteristic of powerful rockets (sometimes called “poping noise” in slang , such sounds were characteristic of Space Shuttle launches):


    2. View directly on the launch complex:


    3. Third video:




    According to Ilona Mask, the launch is expected either next week or later (in February).
    Initially, the burn was scheduled for mid-January, and the launch itself at the end of the month, but the burn was postponed several times. Taking into account the fact that the process of fire tests or burning involves the subsequent analysis of telemetry (including launch loads on the launch vehicle, operation of the rocket systems and the complex), this may take some time.

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