Falcon 9 HEAVY announced

[Dr Mordrid]

Falcon 9 HEAVY:

First stage: a Falcon 9 core with 2 additional Falcon 9's strapped on like shuttle SRB's; 27 Merlin-1 engines totaling 2.75 million pounds of thrust (12.2 mega-newtons)

Second stage: a short tank version of the Falcon 9 with a single Merlin-1 engine and 155,400 lbs vacuum thrust.

LEO = low Earth orbit
GTO = geostationary transfer orbit

Falcon 9 HEAVY LEO: 28,000 kg (61,729 lbs) (~2+ fully loaded school busses)
Falcon 9 HEAVY GTO: 12,000 kg (26,455 lbs)

Shuttle LEO: 24,400 kg (53,700 lbs)
Shuttle GTO 3,810 kg (8,390 lbs)

Ariane 5 LEO: 21,000 kg (46,297 lbs)
Ariane 5 GTO: 10,500 kg (23,149 lbs)

Atlas V LEO: 20,050 kg (44,203 lbs)
Atlas V GTO: 8,200 kg (18,078 lbs)

And their anticipated BFR (big f***'ing rocket) is expected to have engines (Merlin-3) as powerful as the Saturn V's F-1; 1.5 million lbs (6.7 mega-newtons) of thrust EACH.. Its half-scale prototype (Merlin-2) is rumored to be in trials.

The only reason for such a teeth-rattler is putting >100,000 kg in orbit.

Saturn V LEO: 118,000 kg

Falcon 9 HEAVY & Falcon 9 engine cluster

[Technoid]

wow..enough thrust to orbit Arnold Schwarzenegger

McClane: They have a freakin' arsenal here. They got missiles, automatic weapons, and enough plastic explosives to orbit Arnold Schwarzenegger. ...