Can Falcon Heavy handle a larger fairing?

[spacenut]

Well, Atlas V cannot get a 330 module to the moon vicinity.  FH can.  Therein lies a problem for Bigelow if NASA wants a moon station.  It would have to go on SLS which is expensive. 

[yg1968]

That means in order to compete with the longer Atlas V fairing, SpaceX would have to make a longer fairing if it plans to get a 330 module to LEO, or with FH to an orbit of the moon.  What does a 330 module weigh?  20 tons?  A F9 could launch it expendable to LEO with a stretched fairing.  FH could put it in moon orbit, also with a stretched fairing. 

It was on another thread that Spacex has no plans for stretched fairing.

To my knowledge, the only person that discussed this issue is Bigelow himself. He said that the B330 could not use a FH for the foreseable future. 

[deruch]

That means in order to compete with the longer Atlas V fairing, SpaceX would have to make a longer fairing if it plans to get a 330 module to LEO, or with FH to an orbit of the moon.  What does a 330 module weigh?  20 tons?  A F9 could launch it expendable to LEO with a stretched fairing.  FH could put it in moon orbit, also with a stretched fairing. 

It was on another thread that Spacex has no plans for stretched fairing.

Unless there is a customer willing to pay.

There is no customer

SpaceX's Commstellation may be the customer.

[Jim]

That means in order to compete with the longer Atlas V fairing, SpaceX would have to make a longer fairing if it plans to get a 330 module to LEO, or with FH to an orbit of the moon.  What does a 330 module weigh?  20 tons?  A F9 could launch it expendable to LEO with a stretched fairing.  FH could put it in moon orbit, also with a stretched fairing. 

It was on another thread that Spacex has no plans for stretched fairing.

Unless there is a customer willing to pay.

There is no customer

SpaceX's Commstellation may be the customer.

Just stop.  Spacex has said no plans. 

[su27k]

That means in order to compete with the longer Atlas V fairing, SpaceX would have to make a longer fairing if it plans to get a 330 module to LEO, or with FH to an orbit of the moon.  What does a 330 module weigh?  20 tons?  A F9 could launch it expendable to LEO with a stretched fairing.  FH could put it in moon orbit, also with a stretched fairing. 

It was on another thread that Spacex has no plans for stretched fairing.

Unless there is a customer willing to pay.

There is no customer

SpaceX's Commstellation may be the customer.

Just stop.  Spacex has said no plans.

What about EELV requirement? I thought the heavy payload class requires a longer fairing.

[guckyfan]

Just stop.  Spacex has said no plans.

SpaceX has said no reusable upper stage. Their plans change switftly when the need arises. Be it internal needs or a customer.

[RoboGoofers]

What about EELV requirement? I thought the heavy payload class requires a longer fairing.

So is vertical integration.

I have a feeling that Elon isn't chasing those EELV launches as hard anymore. Probably was soured by the last round of bidding. plus they already have a backlog and AF is a very demanding / difficult customer. Plus there are too many political benefits from the ULA-AF contracts for ULA to lose a big share of those launches.

Aside from being a revenue source, they are a distraction from Mars. And other 'distractions' like CommX are experientially beneficial and have greater ROI.

[Coastal Ron]

What about EELV requirement? I thought the heavy payload class requires a longer fairing.

So is vertical integration.

I have a feeling that Elon isn't chasing those EELV launches as hard anymore. Probably was soured by the last round of bidding. plus they already have a backlog and AF is a very demanding / difficult customer. Plus there are too many political benefits from the ULA-AF contracts for ULA to lose a big share of those launches.

Aside from being a revenue source, they are a distraction from Mars. And other 'distractions' like CommX are experientially beneficial and have greater ROI.

As I recall Shotwell just recently mentioned that they are adding vertical integration into Pad 39A when they are making the improvements for crew.

That may not mean that they are planning for a large fairing too, but at least to go after payloads that fit within the current fairing.  And larger USAF payloads may require a lot more than just larger fairings and VI, so it may be those other requirements that are the barriers, not a larger fairing per se.

[baldusi]

If I'm not mistaken, F9 has Category 2 certification, not full Category 3 (up to class A payloads). So the birds requiring the big fairings are not their target.

[abaddon]

Category should not be conflated  with size.  New Horizons was Category 3 and would have easily fit in the F9 PLF.

I haven't heard anything about F9 and Category 3 certification by LSP.  Maybe they are waiting for the freezing of major changes that Block 5 will bring.

(Of course, that's NASA, not USAF, but that is where F9 is rated for Category 2 payloads).

[Ben the Space Brit]

Well, Atlas V cannot get a 330 module to the moon vicinity.  FH can.

At the risk of thread derailment, couldn't Bigelow slowly raise an uncrewed module or three up to cis-Lunar space with an SEP and then use the chemical RCS/landing motors to manoeuvre into whatever is the final desired orbit?

Direct insertion is nice and it is necessary when you've got a crew aboard. However, with no crew, it's just a matter of being patient and it saves having to fork out to support your launch provider's hardware development costs.

[baldusi]

Category should not be conflated  with size.  New Horizons was Category 3 and would have easily fit in the F9 PLF.

I haven't heard anything about F9 and Category 3 certification by LSP.  Maybe they are waiting for the freezing of major changes that Block 5 will bring.

(Of course, that's NASA, not USAF, but that is where F9 is rated for Category 2 payloads).

I was thinking of the inverse relationship. Anything requiring a bigger payload is going to be a Class "A" payload, thus requiring a Category 3 certification.

[Arcas]

Well, Atlas V cannot get a 330 module to the moon vicinity.  FH can.

At the risk of thread derailment, couldn't Bigelow slowly raise an uncrewed module or three up to cis-Lunar space with an SEP and then use the chemical RCS/landing motors to manoeuvre into whatever is the final desired orbit?

Direct insertion is nice and it is necessary when you've got a crew aboard. However, with no crew, it's just a matter of being patient and it saves having to fork out to support your launch provider's hardware development costs.

I can't imagine how long it would take to move a 20 ton satellite from LEO to Lunar Orbit using electric propulsion. The solar panels would have to be massive.

[deruch]

SpaceX's Commstellation may be the customer.

Just stop.  Spacex has said no plans.

Yes.  SpaceX has said that they have no plans for a larger fairing.  That statement came with the caveat that they would be willing to design/build one if a customer wanted one and was willing to pay for it.  My point was that if SpaceX are serious about building and launching their communications constellations then they may find that they will be their own largest launch customer (by volume of launches).  And depending on how their satellites turn out, they may decide that doing the work to make a larger fairing for themselves pays off in fewer launches needed to support the constellations.  Or in improving their chances to recover/reuse their fairings, etc.  In that case, they would be the "customer" that is paying for the new design.  Obviously, there hasn't been any information that this is in the works which is why I used the word "may".