World’s most powerful rocket to blast off in 2013

April 6th, 2011 - 11:33 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

New York, April 6 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The world’s most powerful rocket is expected to blast into space by late 2013. The rocket, Falcon 9-Heavy, has twice the capacity of its predecessor.

The rocket was unveiled recently and the manufacturers say at lift off the rocket would generate about 3.8 million pounds of thrust. That is massive considering that it is the same as the thrust of 15 Boeing 747 aircrafts. The rocket’s engine is currently being tested in Texas. The rocket is expected to be delivered in Vandenberg, California at the end of next year.

The chief executive and designer of Space Exploration Technologies, Elon Musk, said that, “Falcon Heavy will carry more payload to orbit or escape velocity than any vehicle in history, apart from the Saturn V moon rocket, which was decommissioned after the Apollo programme. This opens a new world of capability for both government and commercial space missions.”

The rocket is expected to launch later in 2013 or early 2014. It is expected to go on both commercial and government missions but it would not come cheap. Each launch is expected to cost at least $80 million but that can go up to as much as $125 million.

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