After an incredibly successful launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket last week, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was discussing it in further detail on Twitter yesterday. Apparently, he¡¯s not too happy about the comparison between his rocket and the Delta IV Heavy from competitor United Launch Alliance.
Doug Ellison, a visualization producer for NASA¡¯s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, brought up some of his calculations that show, in some cases, the Delta IV Heavy can match the Falcon Heavy¡¯s performance in missions to the outer edges of the solar system.
Musk insisted that Ellison¡¯s calculations must be mistaken and, even if they weren¡¯t, it¡¯s a moot point because the Falcon Heavy is much cheaper. And that¡¯s when ULA¡¯s Chief Executive Tony Bruno joined the fray.
Musk still wasn¡¯t buying those numbers either.
The entire argument clearly got the Tesla frontman a little riled up, because he responded to the next comment in his trademark impulsive fashion. Another tweet talked about ULA¡¯s to replace its Delta and Atlas rockets with a new, powerful booster, the Vulcan. While it was planned to have a 2019 launch, the Vulcan rocket's maiden launch has now been delayed to closer to mid-2020 at the very least. But Musk believes they¡¯re going to be held up even further by certification processes. And he insisted as much with a classic bet.
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