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To: Tom Clarke who wrote (420202)	4/5/2011 7:52:34 PM
From: FJB	1 Recommendation Respond to of 793969

SpaceX Says New Rocket Will Challenge Boeing, Lockheed in Space April 05, 2011, 4:33 PM EDT By Brendan McGarry businessweek.com April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Space Exploration Technologies Inc. plans to challenge Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. with a new rocket called the Falcon Heavy, second in size only to the Apollo-era Saturn V, the chief operating officer said. The rocket, capable of payloads of at least 117,000 pounds, will have more than twice the capacity of the space shuttle, which is retiring this year, or the Delta IV Heavy rocket made by United Launch Alliance LLC, a joint venture of Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin and Chicago-based Boeing, said Elon Musk, CEO of Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX. “This is a rocket of truly huge scale,” Musk said today at a news conference in Washington. The initial demonstration flight of a Falcon Heavy is scheduled for November or December 2012 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Musk said. A launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, is planned for late 2013 or 2014. The company expects to eventually launch about 20 rockets a year, half Falcon Heavy rockets and half smaller Falcon 9 rockets which are undergoing testing, he said. The Falcon Heavy’s payload is more than a fully-loaded Boeing 737 jet, said Musk, who is also the company’s chief rocket designer. The rocket will meet human flight standards and may be used for missions to the moon or Mars, he said. “It opens up a range of possibilities for government and commercial customers,” he said. Payload Costs Each launch of the Falcon Heavy is expected to cost between $80 million and $125 million, a fraction of the cost of the Delta IV, Musk said. The new rocket’s cost per pound to orbit is estimated at about $1,000, a record low, he said. “Falcon Heavy represents a huge economic advantage,” he said. SpaceX has spent about $800 million of its own money developing rockets and spacecraft at facilities in California and Texas, and at launch sites in California, Florida and the Marshall Islands, Adam Harris, the company’s vice president for government affairs, said in an interview. SpaceX is a privately held company. It may consider an initial public offering of shares toward the end of next year, Musk said. NASA has awarded the company a $1.6 billion contract to deliver cargo to the International Space Station using the Falcon 9 rocket and the company’s Dragon spacecraft, over a dozen launches scheduled to begin late summer or early fall, Harris said. The company hopes the Falcon Heavy will compete to deliver military and spy satellites also, Harris said. --Editors: Steven Komarow, Robin Meszoly