4 ms·
I don't think there are many cities that have suitable launch sites near them. It's unlikely they'll ever get approval to launch over populated areas, or even
by lupusreal 3y ago
I don't think there are many cities that have suitable launch sites near them. It's unlikely they'll ever get approval to launch over populated areas, or even from most populated coastal locations.
Also, the issue of getting boosters to all of these destinations seems like a problem. Planes don't split in two and have half return to the launch site but Starships do. So you could land the upper stage in Tokyo, but then what? How do you get a booster there for the return journey?
Personally I doubt they'll even use these to bring people to orbit anytime soon. I think they're purpose built for launching massive LEO constellations.
- njarboe 3y agoOff shore platforms. Most large cities are on or near an ocean or large lake.
- dotnet00 3y agoYeah the short term approach for crewed Starship seems likely to involve transporting crew to a Starship once it is already in orbit and vice versa for return.
- sebzim4500 3y agoYou'd probably have to launch from international waters, after taking a boat/helicopter. >Also, the issue of getting boosters to all of these destinations seems like a problem You launch them, presumably.
- skissane 3y ago> Also, the issue of getting boosters to all of these destinations seems like a problem. Planes don't split in two and have half return to the launch site but Starships do. So you could land the upper stage in Tokyo, but then what? How do you get a booster there for the return journey? IIRC, the suborbital point-to-point transport use case doesn’t use the booster (SuperHeavy), just Starship.