SpaceX will not use Falcon 9 for BFR tests
In a series of tweets, Elon Musk revealed yesterday that SpaceX has decided it will no longer use its Falcon 9 to test Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) designs and has instead redesigned the BFR’s upper stage, dubbed the Big Falcon Spaceship (BFS), and will do those tests with that.
I suspect that the company got pushback from NASA and the Air Force about making any big changes to the Falcon 9 upper stage, and decided it was better to leave well enough alone. They have more flexibility making these changes and tests with BFS.
However, the main conclusion that I draw from writing up this post is that SpaceX has got to come up with better names for BFR and BFS. What they have now is boring and unwieldy. I am sure that Musk can think of two more exciting and easier to use names for the new rocket’s reusable first and second stages. And he should do it, now!
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In a series of tweets, Elon Musk revealed yesterday that SpaceX has decided it will no longer use its Falcon 9 to test Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) designs and has instead redesigned the BFR’s upper stage, dubbed the Big Falcon Spaceship (BFS), and will do those tests with that.
I suspect that the company got pushback from NASA and the Air Force about making any big changes to the Falcon 9 upper stage, and decided it was better to leave well enough alone. They have more flexibility making these changes and tests with BFS.
However, the main conclusion that I draw from writing up this post is that SpaceX has got to come up with better names for BFR and BFS. What they have now is boring and unwieldy. I am sure that Musk can think of two more exciting and easier to use names for the new rocket’s reusable first and second stages. And he should do it, now!
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Eagle and Eaglet
My interpretation of the tweets is somewhat different. I presume there was a team within SpaceX tasked with researching and developing strategies for long-term re-use of the 2nd stage. It sounds like to me that team has been dissolved and they will be moving onto BFR work. I can still see a one-off modified 2nd stage being used to test certain aspects of the BFR concept at a reduced scale as Musk hinted at in the past few weeks. That effort would be separate and have nothing to do with 2nd stage reusability which he clarified in these last few tweets. I don’t see in these tweets an indication that Falcon 9 would not serve some roll in BFR development.
The funny thing is watching all the armchair “rocket scientists” across the Internet speculate about the latest tweets. At east a third of them a describing a new, counterintuitive design that’s basically Kistler K -1. But then when you think of it, RTLS + parachutes and airbags could’ve been made to work with a bit more money, and since SpaceX has mastered RTLS + propulsive landing… K-1 scaled up 14x might not be the worst idea! BFS as a blunt cylinder with a variable-geometry aft skirt…?
Regarding names, I don’t think Musk wants to name BFR, just give it a tail number. BFR-0001 is as good a name as any for a “booster.” And we know he wants to give each BFS a unique name, starting with “Heart of Gold.” Sort of like submarines which have a hull number and a name. BFS-0001 “Heart of Gold.” Maybe, in time, the Navy will buy some and give them traditional names? And the Trekkies will agitate to have the first one named “USS Enterprise.” Maybe this one will even fly! The Solar Guard cruisers from Tom Corbett were names after stars (Tom and his unit mates had “Polaris”) the ones from “Ride the Gray Planet” (a.k.a. “Assignment in Space”) were named after constellations, the book featuring SCN Scorpius, commanded by “Kevin O’Brine” (as an eight year old, I didn’t know enough to snicker at the captain’s name).
I think Elon is just continuing his juvenile humour, and gentle dig at NASA’s occasionally extreamly clunky acronyms…
Who actually cares WTF BFR is called as long as it fly’s and does the job?
The last thing potential customers will be looking at it the beasts name!
“resuable first and second stages” should be “reusable first and second stages”
Willi: Typo fixed. Thanks.
Yeah, I don’t interpret the tweets that way at all. It seems to me that he announcing the end of the previous efforts to recover the F9 2nd stage, and clarifying that the mini-BFS stuff recently announced is aimed at BFS development purely. So an end to the bouncy castle, balute, and catcher ship stuff, but no conflict with the tweets earlier this month talking about using F9 S2 to do BFS dev. And a clarification that this BFS dev on F9 isn’t a new rev of F9 that would be a certification issue for NASA/AF flights. All of which makes plenty of sense.
Big Frickin Rocket, and Big Frickin Spaceship, sounds good to me.
To quote Carroll Shelby, upon naming the GT 350: “If it’s a good car, the name won’t matter. If it’s a bad car, the name won’t save it.”
Personally, I just want to see it launched. Again, and again, and again, and again!