Required-More efficient propulsion to MarsĮlon wants to get to Mars in 90 days. The way I see it, there are two ways to configure the Falcon XX to enable a one-launch scenario to Mars. If one of the Raptors fails at any time, the other one is there to ensure they can still get to safety. What the two Raptors do give Spacex is an insurance policy. Dmitry's proven that with his work so far. A methalox upper stage, even one with two Raptors, is simply too inefficient to make that feasible. While this configuration would unquestionably deliver more payload to orbit and Mars, it's not going to address the fundamental issue of getting to Mars in 3 months with any payload left. I'd also trim the PLF back so the rocket maxes out at 90 meters in height. I'd hazard a guess a few dozen more mt of propellants in each of the cores would probably help as well.
#KERBAL ENABLE CROSSFEED SIMULATOR#
I would need a simulator to know where best to place it, but I'm guessing we would add at least another 300 mt of propellant to the upper stage. Based on the Falcon Heavy's t/w ratio in contrast to this Falcon XX, we have another 531.5 mt of mass in propellants, structure and payload to use. Even if we up the double the engine count on Dmitry's Falcon XX and the propellant load (or more than double it) of the upper stage, you could easily compensate by simply trimming back a few meters of the PLF. An SLS Bloc IB would be even worse from this perspective of yours, Randy. The total height, btw, is LESS than that of an SLS Bloc I. It's worth pointing out that the PLF makes up 43.1% of the vehicle's total height of 95 meters (PLF is 41 m high). The actual "rocket" section of the Falcon XX is only 54 meters tall, while it's roughly 30 meters across. You really don't need to get that worried, Randy.