Falcon 9 & Falcon Heavy Performance Data

NASA's Launch Services Program published updated performance data for SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, providing insight into performance penalties imposed by the company's re-use aspirations. Numbers for Falcon 9 are available for all types of orbits starting 400 Kilometers in altitude while data on Falcon Heavy's performance is available for high-energy trajectories only.

Under NASA's NLS contract, SpaceX submitted two performance levels for the Falcon 9 Full Thrust Vehicle including performance holdbacks to allow for a Return-to-Launch-Site (RTLS) first stage recovery and Automated Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS) recovery. Based on data released directly by SpaceX, an ASDS landing comes with a performance penalty of 30 to 35% while a land-based recovery (RTLS) requires approximately half the rocket's performance. Preliminary performance data for Falcon Heavy indicates a penalty of approximately 55% when recovering the vehicle's cores.

Falcon 9 Performance Data