[exomonk]

            New Glenn   Falcon 9
    Height  96m         70m
    Payload 45 tons     22.8 tons
    Fairing 7m          5m

New Glenn significantly increases the capacity to Low Earth Orbit, which is what this first phase of the space race has always been about (for Golden Dome, and to a lesser extent commercial internet constellations). All eyes on Starship now.

[wat10000]

Falcon Heavy does up to ~64 tons to LEO and has been available for a while. New Glenn isn't bringing any new capabilities to the table. It is still a very welcome alternative.

[exomonk]

64 tons is if Falcon Heavy is fully expended (nothing recovered) configuration. Even with smaller payload, the center core is generally a lost cause. Falcony Heavy is extremely difficult to launch as I learned when I worked at SpaceX. It turned out that slapping a bunch of Falcons together was not structurally reasonable design choice.

[ChuckMcM]

I'll defer to your experience on this, however Falcon Heavy is the comparable platform so what you're saying is that New Glenn might be able to out compete Falcon Heavy given it was designed from the start for this space? (Not trying to put words in your mouth, just keeping my launch services portfolio up to date :-)).

[bell-cot]

> slapping a bunch of Falcons together was not structurally reasonable design choice.

True. But given the far-lower demand for the Heavy's payload capabilities (vs. Falcon 9), and the costs of the alternatives launch providers for such payloads - slapping a bunch of Falcons together looks like an excellent corporate engineering strategy choice.

[Cucco]

Also falcon heavy use the same fairing as falcon 9 which limits payload size for heavy

[mrtnmcc]

And don't forget New Glenn uses Methane which solves the coking problem for reusability. Coke buildup plagues Falcon more than people realize.

[cubefox]

I think some Falcon 9 lower stages have already been reused 30 times, which suggests coking is not a major problem.

[mrtnmcc]

The individual Falcon turn-around is slow (months of refurb), and the record half-month ones swapped some engines. B1067's 30-reuse is a ship of Theseus rebuilt over 4+ years.

[panick21_]

As part of DoD contract an extend size fairing for Falcon 9 has been developed. So yes there is a larger fairing, that Falcon Heavy can use.

[computerdork]

Super interesting. Didn't know this.

One question for you since your worked at SpaceX. Starship v4 is supposed to be able to bring 200 metric tons to LEO vs 35 metric tons for v2. Do you have any guesses on the finally amount that New Glenn will be able to bring up when it reaches its version/block 4?

[philipwhiuk]

The numbers for payload beyond v3 are aspirational at best.

[computerdork]

Interesting, and sounds like Elon:)

[newZWhoDis]

>200 tons to LEO

*In fully reusable first AND second stage configuration.

An expendable starship would double the tonnage.

[computerdork]

Thanks:)

[antonvs]

> It turned out that slapping a bunch of Falcons together was not structurally reasonable design choice.

The design process at SpaceX sounds hilarious.

[potato3732842]

IDK why you're getting downvoted. There's something very endearing about using the Kerbal Space Program workflow in real life and making it work.

Physics: exists

Engineer: "hehehehe, lets add struts"

<object actually goes to space as designed>

[thinkcontext]

> New Glenn isn't bringing any new capabilities to the table

Their payload fairing volume is a new capability.