BFR (rocket)

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This article is about a launch vehicle designed for Earth-orbit, Moon and Mars missions. For the Mars mission architecture advocated by SpaceX, see SpaceX Mars transportation infrastructure.
BFR
Function Mars colonization,
Earth-Lunar transport,
Intercontinental transport,
Orbital launcher [1]
Manufacturer SpaceX
Country of origin United States
Project cost Not disclosed [lower-alpha 1]
Cost per launch Not disclosed
Size
Height 106 m (348 ft) [1]
Diameter 9 m (30 ft)
Mass 4,400,000 kg (9,700×10^3 lb)
Stages 2
Capacity
Payload to LEO 150,000 kg (330×10^3 lb) reusable
250,000 kg (550×10^3 lb) expendable [1]
Payload to Earth (return) 50,000 kg (110×10^3 lb) [1]
Launch history
Status In development
Launch sites <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
First stage - Booster
Length 58 m (190 ft) [1]
Diameter 9 m (30 ft)
Gross mass 3,065,000 kg (6,800×10^3 lb)
Engines 31 Raptor
Thrust 52.7 MN (11.8×10^6 lbf) (sea level) [1]
Specific impulse 330 s (3.2 km/s) (sea level)
each engine
Fuel Subcooled CH
4 / LOX
Second stage - Spaceship
Length 48 m (157 ft) [1]
Diameter 9 m (30 ft)
Empty mass 85,000 kg (190×10^3 lb)
Gross mass 1,335,000 kg (2,900×10^3 lb)
Engines 7 Raptor (4 vacuum, 3 sea level) [2]
Thrust 12.7 MN (2.9×10^6 lbf) total
Specific impulse 375 s (3.68 km/s) (vacuum)
each, outer 4 engines


356 s (3.49 km/s) (vacuum)
each, inner 3 engines


330 s (3.2 km/s) (sea level) [1]
each, inner 3 engines
Fuel Subcooled CH
4 / LOX

BFR,[1][3][4][5] which either stands for Big Falcon Rocket[6][7] or Big Fucking Rocket,[7][8][9] is the code name for SpaceX's privately-funded range of spaceflight technology announced by Elon Musk in September 2017. It includes reusable launch vehicles and spacecraft that are intended by SpaceX to replace all of the company's current hardware by the early 2020s, ground infrastructure for rapid launch and relaunch, and zero-gravity propellant transfer technology to be deployed in low Earth orbit. The new vehicles are much larger than the existing SpaceX fleet, and the planned payload of 150,000 kg (330,000 lb) when flying reusable or 250,000 kg (550,000 lb) when flying expendable, making it a super heavy-lift launch vehicle.

The BFR system is planned to replace both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, as well as the Dragon spacecraft, initially aiming at the Earth-orbit launch market, but explicitly adding substantial capability to support long-duration spaceflight in the cislunar and Mars mission environments.[1] SpaceX intends this approach to bring significant cost savings which will help the company justify the development expense of designing and building the BFR system.

SpaceX had initially envisioned a larger design known as the ITS launch vehicle, which was presented in September 2016 as part of Musk's vision for an interplanetary transport system.[10] The ITS range of vehicles were designed with a 12-meter (39 ft) core diameter,[11] and the BFR design was scaled down to 9 meters (30 ft).[1] While the ITS had been solely aimed at Mars transit and other interplanetary uses, SpaceX pivoted in 2017 to a plan that would support all SpaceX launch service provider capabilities with a single range of vehicles: Earth-orbit, Lunar-orbit, interplanetary missions, and even intercontinental ballistic passenger transport on Earth.[1][12]

Development work began in 2012 on the Raptor rocket engines which are to be used for both stages of the BFR launch vehicle, and engine testing began in 2016. New rocket engine designs are typically considered one of the longest of the development subprocesses for new launch vehicles and spacecraft. Tooling for the main tanks has been ordered and a facility to build the vehicles is under construction; construction of the first ship is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2018.[1] The company publicly stated an aspirational goal for initial Mars-bound cargo flights of BFR launching as early as 2022, followed by the first crewed BFR flight one synodic period later, in 2024.[3]

History

As early as 2007, Elon Musk stated a personal goal of eventually enabling human exploration and settlement of Mars,[13][14] although his personal public interest in Mars goes back at least to 2001.[15] Bits of additional information about the mission architecture were released in 2011–2015, including a 2014 statement that initial colonists would arrive at Mars no earlier than the middle of the 2020s.[16] Company statements in 2016 indicated that SpaceX was "being intentionally fuzzy about the timeline ... We're going to try and make as much progress as we can with a very constrained budget."[17][18]

Musk stated in a 2011 interview that he hoped to send humans to Mars's surface within 10–20 years,[14] and in late 2012 he stated that he envisioned a Mars colony of tens of thousands with the first colonists arriving no earlier than the middle of the 2020s.[16][19][20]

In October 2012, Musk publicly stated a high-level plan to build a second reusable rocket system with capabilities substantially beyond the Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy launch vehicles on which SpaceX had by then spent several billion US dollars.[21] This new vehicle was to be "an evolution of SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster ... 'much bigger'." But Musk indicated that SpaceX would not be speaking publicly about it until 2013.[16][22]

In June 2013, Musk stated that he intended to hold off any potential IPO of SpaceX shares on the stock market until after the "Mars Colonial Transporter is flying regularly."[23][24]

In August 2014, media sources speculated that the initial flight test of the Raptor-driven super-heavy launch vehicle could occur as early as 2020, in order to fully test the engines under orbital spaceflight conditions; however, any colonization effort was reported to continue to be "deep into the future".[25][26]

In early 2015, Musk said that he hoped to release details in late 2015 of the "completely new architecture" for the system that would enable the colonization of Mars. Those plans were delayed,[27][28][29][18][30] and the name of the system architecture was changed to Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) in mid-September 2016.[10]

On 27 September 2016, at the 67th annual meeting of the International Astronautical Congress, Musk unveiled substantial details of the design for the transport vehicles—including size, construction material, number and type of engines, thrust, cargo and passenger payload capabilities, in-orbit propellant-tanker refills, representative transit times, etc.—as well as details of portions of the Mars-side and Earth-side infrastructure that SpaceX intended to build to support a set of three flight vehicles. The three distinct vehicles that made up the ITS launch vehicle in the 2016 design were the:

  • ITS booster, the first-stage of the launch vehicle
  • ITS spaceship, a second-stage and long-duration in-space spacecraft
  • ITS tanker, an alternative second-stage designed to carry more propellants for refueling other vehicles in space

In addition, Musk championed a larger systemic vision, a vision for a bottom-up emergent order of other interested parties—whether companies, individuals, or governments—to utilize the new and radically lower-cost transport infrastructure that SpaceX would endeavor to build in order to help build a sustainable human civilization on Mars by innovating and meeting the demand that such a growing venture would occasion.[31][32]

In the November 2016 plan, SpaceX indicated it would fly its earliest research spacecraft missions to Mars using its Falcon Heavy launch vehicle and a specialized modified Dragon spacecraft, called "Red Dragon" prior to the completion, and first launch, of any ITS vehicle. Later Mars missions using ITS were slated then to begin no earlier than 2022.[33]

By February 2017, the earliest launch of any SpaceX mission to Mars was to be 2020, two years later than the previously mentioned 2018 Falcon Heavy/Dragon2 exploratory mission.[34] In July 2017, SpaceX announced it would no longer plan to use a propulsively-landed "Red Dragon" spacecraft on the early missions, as had been previously announced.[35]

In July 2017, SpaceX made public plans to build a much smaller launch vehicle and spacecraft prior to building the ITS launch vehicle that had been unveiled nine months earlier for just the beyond Earth orbit part of future SpaceX launch service offerings. Musk indicated that the architecture has "evolved quite a bit" since the November 2016 articulation of the comprehensive Mars architecture. A key driver of the new architecture is to make the new system useful for substantial Earth-orbit and cislunar launches so that the new system might pay for itself, in part, through economic spaceflight activities in the near-Earth space zone.[36] "Serious development of BFR" began in 2017.[1]:15:22

Announcement of the BFR

On 29 September 2017 at the 68th annual meeting of the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, South Australia, SpaceX unveiled the new smaller vehicle architecture. Musk said "we are searching for the right name, but the code name, at least, is BFR."[1] The new launch vehicle system is a 9-meter (30 ft) diameter technology, using methalox-fueled Raptor rocket engine technology directed initially at the Earth-orbit and cislunar environment, later, being used for Mars missions.[1][3]

Aerodynamics of the BFR second stage have changed from the 2016-design ITS launch vehicle. The new design is cylindrical with a small delta wing at the rear end which includes a split flap for pitch and roll control. The delta wing and split flaps are needed to expand the mission envelope to allow the ship to land in a variety of atmospheric densities (no, thin, or heavy atmosphere) with a wide range of payloads (small, heavy, or none) in the nose of the ship.[1]:18:05–19:25 The cylindrical shape is for mass optimization. There are three versions of the ship: BFR crew, BFR cargo, BFR tanker. The first two are primarily destined to fly to Mars.[citation needed] The cargo version can also be used to launch satellites to Low Earth Orbit.

After retanking in a high-elliptic Earth orbit the spaceship will be able to land on the Moon and return to Earth without further refueling.[1]:31:50 The most surprising announcement was to use BFR as a point-to-point transfer system for people on Earth. Musk expects ticket price to be on par with a full fare economy plane ticket for the same distance.

As of September 2017, Raptor engines have been tested for a combined total of 1200 seconds of test firing time over 42 main engine tests. The longest test was 100 seconds, which is limited by the size of the propellant tanks at the SpaceX ground test facility. The test engine operates at 20 MPa (200 bar; 2,900 psi) pressure. The flight engine is aimed for 25 MPa (250 bar; 3,600 psi), and SpaceX expects to achieve 30 MPa (300 bar; 4,400 psi) in later iterations.[1]

Testing of the BFR is expected to begin with short suborbital hops of the full-scale ship, likely to just a few hundred kilometers altitude and lateral distance.[37]

By September 2017, SpaceX had already started building launch vehicle components. "The tooling for the main tanks has been ordered, the facility is being built, we will start construction of the first ship [in the second quarter of 2018.]" Musk is hoping to be ready for an initial Mars launch in five years, in order to make the 2022 Mars conjunction window.[1]

The aspirational goal is the first two cargo missions to Mars in 2022, with the goal to "confirm water resources and identify hazards" while putting "power, mining, and life support infrastructure" in place for future flights, followed by four ships in 2024, two crewed BFR spaceships plus two cargo-only ships bringing additional equipment and supplies with the goal of setting up the propellant production plant.[1]

Scope of BFR missions

The BFR launch vehicle is planned to replace all existing SpaceX vehicles and spacecraft in the early 2020s. SpaceX cost estimation has led the company to conclude that BFR launches will be cheaper per launch than launches of the existing vehicles and even cheaper than launches of the retired Falcon 1. This is partly due to the full reusability of all parts of BFR, but also due to precision landing of the booster on its launch mount and industry-leading launch operations. More specifically, both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles and the Dragon spacecraft being flown today will be replaced in the operational SpaceX fleet during the early 2020s.[38][1]

Flight missions of BFR will thus aim at the:[38]

Description

The major characteristics of the launch vehicle include:[1]

  • Completely reusable, both stages
  • Booster returns to launch mount
  • Expected landing reliability on a par with major airliners
  • Automated rendezvous and docking
  • In-orbit propellant transfer from BFR tanker to BFR spaceship
  • The ship and its payload can go to the Moon or Mars with in-orbit propellant loading
  • BFR satellite delivery spacecraft to deliver all sizes of satellites to orbit.
  • BFR spaceship, BFR tanker, and the BFR satellite delivery spacecraft share the same outer mold line
  • Reusable heat-shield technology
  • The BFR spaceship contains 825 m3 (29,100 cu ft) of pressurized volume; could be configured with 40 cabins, large common areas, central storage, galley, and a solar storm shelter in Mars transit configuration.
Specifications[1]
Complete BFR booster BFR spaceship
LEO Payload reusable: 150,000 kg (330×10^3 lb)
expendable: 250,000 kg (550×10^3 lb)
Return Payload 50,000 kg (110×10^3 lb)
Diameter 9 m (30 ft)
Length 106 m (348 ft) 58 m (190 ft) 48 m (157 ft)
Maximum weight 4,400,000 kg (9,700×10^3 lb) 1,335,000 kg (2,900×10^3 lb)
Propellant Capacity CH
4 – 240,000 kg (530×10^3 lb)
O
2 – 860,000 kg (1,900×10^3 lb)
Empty weight 85,000 kg (190×10^3 lb)
Engines 31 × SL Raptors 3 × SL + 4 × vacuum Raptors[2]
Thrust 52.7 MN (11.8×10^6 lbf) 12.7 MN (2.9×10^6 lbf) total

The Raptor engine characteristics include:[1]

  • flight engine is designed to operate at 25 MPa (250 bar; 3,600 psi) of chamber pressure and achieve 30 MPa (300 bar; 4,400 psi) in later iterations.
  • extremely focused on reliability.[41]

See also

Notes

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ BFR Earth to Earth, SpaceX, 28 September 2017, accessed 23 December 2017.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.


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