Los Angeles Times

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launches its first satellite into a rapidly changing market

A lot has changed since SpaceX first unveiled its huge Falcon Heavy rocket in 2011.

The company's chief executive, Elon Musk, has laid out his plans to colonize Mars. Work has progressed on Starship, an even bigger, next-generation spaceship and rocket booster system. And satellite operators are shifting from massive, commercial satellites bound for a high, geostationary orbit to smaller, more capable devices that require less of a boost into space.

Does that mean the Falcon Heavy - which made its debut last year, launching Musk's red Tesla Roadster toward Mars and landing its two side boosters simultaneously back on Earth - is out of a job?

Not yet.

While Starship will eventually take

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times3 min read
Universal Studios Tram Tossed 'Multiple' Riders To The Ground, Accident Investigators Say
LOS ANGELES — A tram vehicle at Universal Studios Hollywood threw "multiple" riders to the ground after it struck a guardrail near props from the "Jurassic Park" film franchise in an accident that is under investigation by the California Highway Patr
Los Angeles Times4 min read
George Skelton: California's Budget Relies On The Richest Taxpayers, And We're Paying The Price
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Borrowing an old bromide, when the stock market sneezes, California's state government catches pneumonia. It's more than a common cold when the state coughs up billions of buckets in red ink. Wall Street recently has exhibited
Los Angeles Times5 min read
Avian Flu Outbreak Raises A Disturbing Question: Is Our Food System Built On Poop?
If it’s true that you are what you eat, then most beef-eating Americans consist of a smattering of poultry feathers, urine, feces, wood chips and chicken saliva, among other food items. As epidemiologists scramble to figure out how dairy cows throug

Related Books & Audiobooks