/sci/ - Science & Math

Is this a dumb theory:
I feel like the Falcon Heavy will perform better with heavier payloads.

Since they never managed to get asparagus staging right, they throttle down the core booster until the side booster separate.

But rocket engines can't be throttled down below a certain number, and having the side boosters at 100% with the core booster at 30% when carrying a light payload (i.e. the car) would produce immense TWR that would be wasted in the thicc atmosphere after launch, and cause a lot of stress on the rocket.

Therefore, I imagine that on light payloads the side boosters are also throttled down, and this causes a loss of Delta V.
This is also why the core booster and the side boosters ran out of fuel so close to each other in the demo mission, they were both running at reduced thrust.

If my theory isn't dumb, heavier payloads will work better on the Falcon Heavy.

The core was new, the side boosters were second-hand right?