SpaceX Falcon Shuttle Video 01

The 1st render of the SpaceX Shuttle concept, showing the vehicle in flight.

The Falcon Shuttle Resuable Launch System

The Falcon shuttle is a fully reusable launch vehicle based around the Falcon 9 rockets being developed by SpaceX.
The aim of this vehicle is to use as much existing launch technology as possible whilst configuring it in a way that allows for either a super sized payload or manned capsule to be delivered into Earth Orbit.

One of the reasons for choosing the Falcon 9 rocket is that from the beginning SpaceX have had the aim of making all of their launch vehicles fully reusable.
The Merlin engines used by the Falcon 9 rocket has been test fired for re-use on at least 25 launches, if not more.

This design has a range of influences, most notably the single stage to orbit SERV  ( single-stage earth-orbital reusable vehicle) designed by the Chrysler Car Company in the early 1960's, back in the days space was fair game to all, Chrysler built 2No test 1st stages of the Saturn V rocket and several Saturn 1B's 1st stage rockets to - fairly impressive ( until they built the Chrysler Sunbeam!).
SpaceX's founder Elon Musk also runs the Electric Car company Tesla Motors so its nice to see things come full circle.
Other influences include the New Shepard vehicles being developed by Blue Origin as well as a multitude of launch vehicle concepts by NASA particularly the Mars ERV concept.

The Falcon Cargo

The aim of the Falcon Cargo is to provide the capability of launching large payloads of up to 30 Metric tonnes, into low Earth orbit.

Although this is smaller weight than the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle currently under development which will deliver up to 50 Metric tonnes to low Earth orbit, the aim of the Falcon Cargo is to put super large payloads into orbit to build the space stations of the future, the bigger the payload the lower the launch cost per cubic metre of space hardware.

It took around 40No space flights to build the International Space Station ( ISS) at an estimated cost of $500 million per flight, a total launch cost of $20 billion.
Using the reusable Falcon Cargo launch vehicle, a comparable sized space station could be built with just 5No flights at an estimated cost of $200 million per flight, total cost just $1 billion or alternately a much larger station could be built for the same cost as the ISS, putting the space into space!.

The Mars Launch System & Earth Return Vehicle

The following designs show how the Falcon Shuttle concept could be used for a manned mission to Mars, delivering up to 7No Astronauts to the red planet in relative comfort in a modified Super Dragon capsule with passenger seats removed to provide ample personal space.
The capsule would also act as a permanent base station on the planet for future missions.

The Earth Return Vehicle would incorporate an the existing SpaceX Dragon capsule and Falcon 2nd stage rockets, designed to carry up to 7No crew members from the surface of Mars to an orbiting return capsule.

Please Note: Rich Curtis is not employed by SpaceX ( well you never know! ) and these designs have not been either endorsed or approved by SpaceX ( Space Exploration Technologies Corporation ).

The SpaceX logo has been used in good faith and in the spirit of "open door thinking".

Users download or reproduce these images at their own risk.