Quote:
Originally Posted by flipper35
There is a considerable difference in size and capability between the Saturn V and the small (relatively speaking) Falcon Heavy.
There is a good read here, and I think Ars Technica had a good one also.
https://newatlas.com/falcon-heavy-saturn-v/53090/
Let's look at the basic statistics. The Falcon Heavy stands 230 ft (70 m) tall, its core has a diameter of 12 ft (3.66 m), and when fully assembled with its side boosters is 40 ft (12.2 m) wide and weighs 3,132,301 lb (1,420,788 kg). The Saturn V with its three stages in place, tops out at 363 ft (110.6 m) tall, has a diameter of 33 ft (10.1 m), and tips the scales at 6,540,000 lb (2,970,000 kg).
Of course, size isn't everything. The Empire State building is bigger than both the Saturn V and the Falcon Heavy, but it can't fly for toffee. On the other hand, the two-stage Falcon Heavy has nine Merlin 1D main engines in each of its first stage elements burning supercooled liquid oxygen and kerosene to produce 5,548,500 lb of thrust. Then the second stage takes over with its single Merlin 1D engine to punch 210,000 lb of thrust
That's remarkable when compared to the Atlas and Ariane rockets of today, but now let's look at the Saturn V. Its S-IC first stage has five Rocketdyne F1 engines that, when set loose, generate a staggering 7,610,000 lb of thrust as it burns kerosene and liquid oxygen. |
They have a saturn V turned on its side at the NASA clear-lake facility. It is absolutley bewildering to wonder around. It boggles the mind that humans could build something so big and powerful especially given the time frame.
I was definitely impressed by the falcon heavy launch, but found it a bit misleading when everyone implied it was the most powerful rocket in existence. Sometimes they didn't even qualify it with "currently"
Ive always been a bit on the fence with Musk. I thought electrifying an elise is a pretty unremarkable feat of engineering. Model S is a pretty impressive car with amazing marketing, economics aside. I find it very fun and refreshing that when I am overseas these days, Tesla is the fantasy car of choice for many of the engineers I work with. It wasnt that long ago where american cars (and intelligence really) were the subject of many jokes from European and Scandinavian colleagues.