SpaceX Employs Falcon Heavy For First Time In 2024 To Send NOAA's GOES-U Weather Satellite To Space

Elon Musk‘s SpaceX had its first Falcon Heavy launch this year on Tuesday, following over 50 launches of its workhorse Falcon 9 vehicle and multiple flight tests for its ambitious Starship launch vehicle.

What Happened: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket launched the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES-U mission to a geostationary orbit from Florida on Tuesday at 5:26 p.m. ET.

GOES-U is among the agency’s most sophisticated Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) series. It will help weather forecasters with high-resolution imagery while also aiding early detection of severe weather and tropical cyclones. The environmental monitoring satellite constellation is planned to operate into the 2030s, NASA said.

Why It Matters: “As communities across the U.S. and the world feel the effects of extreme weather, satellites like GOES-U keep a close watch to monitor weather in real time,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said. “This fleet of advanced satellites is strengthening resilience to our changing climate, and protecting humanity from weather hazards on Earth, and in space.”

The mission marked the Falcon Heavy’s 10th launch overall and its first in 2024. In comparison, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has already completed over 50 launches this year. The company also conducted two test flights of its Starship launch vehicle, aimed at returning humans to the surface of the Moon, since the start of the year.

“Off to new heights! Thanks for the lift, SpaceX,” aerospace company Lockheed Martin LMT, who designed the weather satellite, wrote on X. “You're most welcome,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk responded.

Musk has previously named the Falcon Heavy ‘scary' during a review. “I love that rocket, but it's scary. So many state changes post liftoff,” Musk said about the vehicle last year.

Falcon Heavy draws upon the design of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. It has three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores and can lift about 64 metric tons.

The 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff — equivalent to eighteen 747 aircraft — according to the SpaceX website. 

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Image: SpaceX