SpaceX has just revealed plans to build a rocket called the “Falcon Heavy” by the end of 2012/early 2013 that will be capable of carrying the heaviest ever payload into space. This rocket is capable of lifting up to 53 metric tons into space which is not even matched by today (at least for now) space shuttle. The only other rocket to have ever beaten this lift weight was the now long retired Saturn V rocket that was used to put man on the moon. While the Falcon Heavy could be used to put man on the moon again one day it seems that it would be far more likely that it will be used to shuttle cargo to the International Space Station and used for rendezvous missions to near earth object. The main advantage of this rocket is that the boosters are reusable and thus it greatly reduces the cost of the mission. While the price tag of $80 to $125 million dollars sounds like a lot it is still relatively cheap compared to the almost 1 billion dollars cost of a space shuttle launch. It really exciting to see that private enterprise is now picking up the slack in the NASA program now that there is only two space shuttle launches left before they are permanently retired.
