SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Set To Fly Again Later This Month for a US Space Force Mission After Three Years

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket is set to launch again later this month after three years since it first blazed a path into orbit. The New York Times reported that the 28-engine launcher last launched on April 11, 2019, carrying the Arabsat-6A communications satellite that will relay television, internet, and mobile phone signals to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

The Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center is being prepared for the upcoming launch of Falcon Heavy following the recent liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket and a Dragon capsule for the Crew-5 mission. Falcon Heavy has a different configuration than the Falcon 9 rocket in the sense that it has three Falcon boosters connected together to triple the total thrust.

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Launches Communications Satellite

(Photo : Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 2019 in Titusville, Florida.

Why It Took Three Years To Launch Falcon Heavy Again?

The Falcon Heavy rocket mission this month is codenamed USSF-44 and is expected to fly again as soon as October 28, per Spaceflight Now. The launch is set in daylight in the morning hours although SpaceX has not officially released the schedule for the USSF-44 mission.

The long gap in Falcon Heavy launches because of payload delays. It was revealed that the USSF-44 mission was supposed to launch in late 2020, some issues occurred with the Space Force payload assigned to fly the rocket, leading to the two-year delay. A spokesperson for the military told Spaceflight Now that the USSF-44 payload issues have been resolved and ready.

The US Space Force has not released much information about the mission and what Falcon Heavy rocket will be ferrying the payloads into orbit. Although, they released information about the payloads.

One of them is a microsatellite called TETRA-1 that is built by Boeing's subsidiary Millenium Space Systems based in El Segundo, California. Space Force officials said that the small spacecraft is designed to "prototype missions and tactics, techniques and procedures in and around geosynchronous Earth orbit."

Pentagon originally stated in their procurement statement four years ago that the mission would launch two spacecraft. But Space Force has not released any updates on the final number of satellites for the task. Nonetheless, they assume a combined mass of two payloads that is less than 8,200 pounds (3.7 metric tons).

SpaceX Predicts Six Falcon Heavy Launches in the Next 12 Months

Jeff Foust, an aerospace analyst, tweeted last month that the company will launch Falcon Heavy up to six times in the next 12 months. Falcon Heavy's debut in 2018 was nearly flawless and only marred by the loss of the first-stage boosters of the rocket that failed to touch down on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Since it took 39 months for the rocket to fly again since its last mission in 2019, it is hard to know when its fourth time will be. SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero confirms to a panel at the 2022 World Satellite Business Week that SpaceX is planning six Falcon Heavy launches in the next 12 months.

An article in Teslarati suggests that it is possible that Falcon Heavy could end its launch hiatus and kick off a six-mission streak soon with the most likely first launch to happen this month. Meanwhile, some reports also suggest that two additional missions codenamed ViaSat-3 and USSF-67 could also launch this year.