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For some context for those who aren't SpaceX fanboys (card carrying member here)... Starship is a new two stage rocket SpaceX is building. It's going to have s

by mabbo 7y ago

For some context for those who aren't SpaceX fanboys (card carrying member here)... Starship is a new two stage rocket SpaceX is building. It's going to have similar launch capabilities to the Saturn V Moon rocket, but be 100% reusable. The upper stage is planned to be able to take people to Mars and back. The test today is a very early prototype. It's just the upper stage, just a mock up of it (literally built by a company that makes steel water towers, I've heard) and it had just one of their new "Raptor" Engines. The test was basically "Can we hover 150m in the air and safely land?". It passed almost perfectly. Why do this? Because the Raptor is a really complex and new design and SpaceX need to test the hell out of it. Next after this will be two higher quality prototypes of the upper stage, probably with more engines, and probably to go high enough to test reentry. And then eventually a test of Stage 1, which will be a massive reusable booster (like Falcon 9 but many times larger). The whole thing is designed for rapid reusability. No refurbishment between launches and no new hardware needed (100% reusable) means very low variable cost per launch.

JshWright 7y ago
Calling Raptor "really complex" still manages to undersell it a bit, in my opinion. It's pushing the state of the art in rocket engine design pretty significantly. It's the first full flow closed cycle engine to fly. For folks who are interested in learning more about rocket engines, Scott Manley is a great resource: https://youtu.be/4QXZ2RzN_Oo https://youtu.be/4QXZ2RzN_Oo
_ph_ 7y ago
It is also worth noting that the first two prototypes (they are building 2 in parallel on different sites in Texas and Florida) are already quite progressed and planned to do their first testing soon (according to Elon possibly in September even, but that is likely to be optimistic).
woodandsteel 7y ago
Besides being 100% reusable, the second stage will be able to be refueled in orbit. That means it can take off to Mars with a full load of fuel, and carry about a hundred times as much cargo there as a Saturn V sized rocket could.
- mabbo 7y ago
  Yeah, in-orbit fueling will be a game changer. I'll bet good money that early on, SpaceX runs a ride-share program to send landers/orbiters to Mars for every space agency on the planet. How cool would that be in 10+ different countries had rovers on the ground, collecting different data, different experiments?

by mabbo 7y ago

JshWright 7y ago

Calling Raptor "really complex" still manages to undersell it a bit, in my opinion. It's pushing the state of the art in rocket engine design pretty significantly. It's the first full flow closed cycle engine to fly. For folks who are interested in learning more about rocket engines, Scott Manley is a great resource: https://youtu.be/4QXZ2RzN_Oo https://youtu.be/4QXZ2RzN_Oo

_ph_ 7y ago

It is also worth noting that the first two prototypes (they are building 2 in parallel on different sites in Texas and Florida) are already quite progressed and planned to do their first testing soon (according to Elon possibly in September even, but that is likely to be optimistic).

woodandsteel 7y ago

Besides being 100% reusable, the second stage will be able to be refueled in orbit. That means it can take off to Mars with a full load of fuel, and carry about a hundred times as much cargo there as a Saturn V sized rocket could.

mabbo 7y ago
Yeah, in-orbit fueling will be a game changer. I'll bet good money that early on, SpaceX runs a ride-share program to send landers/orbiters to Mars for every space agency on the planet. How cool would that be in 10+ different countries had rovers on the ground, collecting different data, different experiments?