SpaceX teases a photo of the Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful rocket

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By Matthew Griffin Space 31st December 2016

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

If you want to build a colony on Mars you need a big rocket to move a lot of stuff – it’s as simple as that

SpaceX’s massive new rocket, the Falcon Heavy, hasn’t taken flight yet, but when it does, it will be the most powerful rocket in the world – by a factor of two, and the company is banking on this to be the booster that takes people to Mars. On Wednesday SpaceX shared a photograph of the rocket, complete with snazzy logo, on Instagram.

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“Heavy interstage being prepped at the rocket factory,” reads the caption, “when FH flies next year, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two.”

Falcon Heavy interstage being prepped at the rocket factory. When FH flies next year, it will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two.

A photo posted by SpaceX (@spacex) on Dec 28, 2016 at 12:33pm PST

The Falcon Heavy’s will have a thrust of 5.1 million pounds force on liftoff, which dwarfs everything that’s come before it – and it will be able to transport 54 tonnes into space in a single journey for a third of the cost of the next biggest rocket.

“Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit,” said the company’s representative.

The first launch of the rocket was supposed to take place in 2016, but was pushed back due to the explosion of a Falcon 9 in September. Now the first launch is expected to take place in early 2017 but it’s clear that not everybody has forgotten about the incident.

“Anyone else read ‘most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two’ as ‘Will be the biggest and coolest explosion you have ever seen’?” said one person on SpaceX’s Facebook post.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.

An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.

Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.