6 ms·

Doesn't it have much higer payload to LEO and GTO though? It's much more than D-IVH payload if Wikipedia is to be believed: FH: 63800kg LEO, 26700kg GTO D-IVH

• indubitable 9y ago
  The Falcon Heavy not only lifts vastly more (it will be the most powerful rocket excepting the Saturn V - which has not been in commission since 1973), but I think understating the scale of price difference is also not really reasonable. The Falcon Heavy is looking at a cost of around $85 million. The Delta-4 Heavy starts at $400 million. Compare price per kg and it's quite insane. For low earth orbit that's $1,332/kg for a Falcon Heavy and $13,893/kg at the low end pricing for a Delta-4 Heavy. The Falcon 9 weighs in at $2,684/kg. Each cut in price opens up possibilities that were not there before. Make it $1/kg and that'd be rather self evident, but each price decline opens up the doors for companies and individuals who previously were only being held back by price.
  • anovikov 9y ago
    Not correct calculation, as FH may be $85M only when reusing all 3 cores, for a big payload penalty.
• anovikov 9y ago
  In reusable mode (with all 3 cores recovered), they will barely hit 18 or so tons to GTO, and probably just barely more than D-IVH (~7000kr or so) to direct GEO insertion. Much more when expended, but not so much when reused. Could still launch double shots of heavy comsats as Ariane 5 launch heavy + light, though.