Manufacturer SpaceX Cost per launch US$10.9M (2010) Diameter 1.7 metres (5 ft 7 in) | Country of origin United States Height 27.4 metres (90 ft) | |
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Function Small-lift launch system | ||
The Falcon 1e was a proposed upgrade of the SpaceX Falcon 1. The Falcon 1e would have featured a larger first stage with a higher thrust engine, an upgraded second stage engine, a larger payload fairing, and was intended to be partially reusable. Its first launch was planned for mid-2011, but the Falcon 1 and Falcon 1e were withdrawn from the market, with SpaceX citing "limited demand," before its debut. Payloads that would have flown on the Falcon 1 were instead to be flown on the Falcon 9 using excess capacity.
Contents
Design
The Falcon 1e was to be 6.1 m (20 ft) longer than the Falcon 1, with an overall length of 27.4 m (90 ft), but with the same 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) diameter. Its first stage had a dry mass of 2,580 kg (5,680 lb), and was powered by an upgraded pump-fed Merlin 1C engine burning 39,000 kg (87,000 lb) of RP-1 and liquid oxygen. The first stage burn time was around 169 seconds. The second stage had a dry mass of 540 kg (1,200 lb) and its pressure-fed Kestrel 2 engine burned 4,000 kg (8,900 lb) of propellant. The restartable Kestrel 2 could burn for up to a total of 418 seconds.
The Falcon 1e planned to use Aluminum Lithium alloy 2195 in the second stage, a change from the 2014 Aluminum used in the Falcon 1 second stages.
Launches
Falcon 1e launches were intended to occur from Omelek Island, part of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and from Cape Canaveral, however SpaceX had announced that they would consider other locations as long as there is a "business case for establishing the requested launch site". Following a demonstration flight, the Falcon 1e was intended make a series of launches carrying Orbcomm O2G spacecraft, with a total of eighteen satellites being launched, several per rocket. EADS Astrium had been responsible for marketing the Falcon 1e in Europe.