4 ms·
The Falcon Heavy has three times the initial thrust, three times the booster weight, but only the normal amount of second stage weight. Going by numbers from W
by Symmetry 8y ago
The Falcon Heavy has three times the initial thrust, three times the booster weight, but only the normal amount of second stage weight. Going by numbers from Wikepdia that don't count the payload the normal Falcon 9 has a TWR of 1.41 and the Falcon Heavy has one of 1.64. So it should be lifting into the air about half again as fast.
The payload weight will make a small difference but it'll be pretty small to the overall weight in any event and not make a large difference. Arabsat-6A is just 6 tons compared to a total weight of 1426 tons.
- jpatokal 8y agoFor reference, Falcon Heavy's max payloads are 63.8T to LEO and 26.7T to GTO, so today's load was quite light. ArabSat would actually have (just) fit in a regular Falcon 9 as well.
- ygra 8y agoThose maximum payloads are in expendable mode, though. SpaceX wants to reduce expendable launches as much as possible. For a reusable FH the numbers are substantially lower and the satellite might not have that much more mass to still fit.