What is the fastest time to the Moon possible with Starship in the near future, assuming there is orbital refueling? Is sustained acceleration and then deceleration possible at say 0.25G, to reduce this time?
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7$\begingroup$ Why is 24 hours the time limit for commerce? You realize that trading across both the Atlantic and Pacific was a huge deal for centuries before even the steam engine was invented, and everyone did it with just wind power? And for a good century, rail travel across the US was a matter of weeks, not hours or days. What makes you put an arbitrary time limit here? What's wrong with a three to five day travel time to the moon? $\endgroup$– Darth PseudonymSep 25 at 20:33
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7$\begingroup$ Look, if I can't Amazon Prime toilet paper to the moonbase overnight if I run low, I'm not going. $\endgroup$– Russell BorogoveSep 26 at 1:51
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3$\begingroup$ Even if it's technically feasible to deliver cargo to/from the moon in under 24 hours, it will inevitably mean more fuel burned for a smaller payload than taking the long way. It's not likely to be economically feasible. $\endgroup$– CadenceSep 26 at 3:39
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4$\begingroup$ I think "making lunar commerce possible" is detracting from your otherwise good question. Eventually there will be valid reasons to want to speed up the trip in some cases when possible, even if there is an additional fuel cost, just like there is in car and plane travel. There will likely be cases where Starship is flying with a lower payload which would make a faster trip time possible. Maximum speed would be used in less common situations such as a medical evacuation, or sending a critical piece of life support hardware to restore redundancy after say a double failure. $\endgroup$– Steve PembertonSep 26 at 13:27
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2$\begingroup$ @RussellBorogove God forbid you have to walk to the Space Bodega. $\endgroup$– Darth PseudonymSep 26 at 15:15
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