SpaceX for interplanetary missions

[CitabriaFlyer]

Now that Falcon 9 Heavy is operational what interplanetary missions are within Space X capabilities.

Started thinking about this after reading Europa Clipper thread this am.

Can F9H do EC with only Earth gravity assists? 

Could a cryo upper stage be fitted to F9H?  I would think that would require a large amount of work to the GSE and tower at 39A as well as more engineering work given a stretched F9H.  These are things that do not seem to be a huge priority for SpaceX.

[IanThePineapple]

Now that Falcon 9 Heavy is operational what interplanetary missions are within Space X capabilities.

Started thinking about this after reading Europa Clipper thread this am.

Can F9H do EC with only Earth gravity assists?

Could a cryo upper stage be fitted to F9H?  I would think that would require a large amount of work to the GSE and tower at 39A as well as more engineering work given a stretched F9H.  These are things that do not seem to be a huge priority for SpaceX.

Answer to EC question: Probably. Might be able to push it straight to Jupiter in center core expendable or full expendable.

Answer to cryo stage question: Yes, but it would take tons of design and pad/vehicle changes, not really worth it with BFR coming up relatively soon. They did plan to have a Raptor upper stage for FH, but that has been pretty much shelved, we've seen no progress on it.

[whitelancer64]

FH can launch Europa Clipper (as could Delta IV or the Atlas V), it will just take longer to get there than on the SLS.

[oldAtlas_Eguy]

I believe the basic answer that has been explored in the EC threads is that the FH as Expendable can with a Lunar gravity assist can have a significantly shorter duration coast, but not as short as the SLS, than any other LV option but Vulcan/ACES using distributive launch.

But some of the interesting things is that if BFR is flying before the expected June 2022/July 2023 launch then SLS does not even compare to the DeltaV or the extremely short coast duration that would be possible using solids as escape stages carried as a stack in the cargo BFR/BFS.

[speedevil]

The implicit assumption that rockets can be simply compared by payload throw weights as if assembly in orbit is inherently impossible bothers me.

This post should have more details.

I note that studying behaviour of fuel and oxidiser in a several hour long spinning coast would be quite useful if you're considering slowly pumping fuel between launched stages, or between launched stages and payloads.

[Hobbes-22]

The implicit assumption that rockets can be simply compared by payload throw weights as if assembly in orbit is inherently impossible bothers me.

Just pragmatic. Number of interplanetary launches using on-orbit assembly: 0.

[speedevil]

The implicit assumption that rockets can be simply compared by payload throw weights as if assembly in orbit is inherently impossible bothers me.

Just pragmatic. Number of interplanetary launches using on-orbit assembly: 0.

0.5*several =>1. (Lunar orbit assembly of Apollo) (I'm counting the crew as parts).

I found on https://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/Rendezvous.html while searching.

In November 1961, Houbolt took the bold step of skipping proper channels and writing a private letter, nine pages long, directly to Seamans, the associate administrator. "Somewhat as a voice in the wilderness," Houbolt protested LOR's exclusion. "Do we want to go to the moon or not?" the Langley engineer asked. "Why is Nova, with its ponderous size simply just accepted, and why is a much less grandiose scheme involving rendezvous ostracized or put on the defensive? I fully realize that contacting you in this manner is somewhat unorthodox," Houbolt admitted, "but the issues at stake are crucial enough to us all that an unusual course is warranted."

I would have a lot more sympathy if this was a complex orbital assembly, rather than docking at arbitrarily slow speed, two under-control vehicles probably with high bandwidth video datalinks to earth and accurate positioning on near-identical hardware.