Questions tagged [spacex-starship]
Questions regarding SpaceX's Starship, formerly the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) upper stage or BFS
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Are there any at least somewhat authoritative estimates of how long it will be before people will land on mars and setting up camp?
While the naive but perfectly valid question Are they building on mars or do they have a camp there? was closed and overly downvoted, I think my answer there was reasonable; the perception by the lay ...
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What is the two little black side tanks seen at starship?
What is the content of the two little black side tanks at the SpaceX Starship SN3? And what it's used for?
The picture is of Mk1 then SN1 (tanks on left side) then SN3 (tanks on middle front).
Here ...
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Why did SpaceX swap the LOX and CH4 tanks between Mk1 and SN1?
According to most sources, the Starship Mk.1 had its LOX main tank (not talking about the header tanks here) on top and its main methane tank below. But it seems the SN1 revision, and all subsequent ...
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Why create a production line for the SpaceX Starship?
We read that Elon Musk is focusing not only on designing a functional new space vehicle, but almost foremost on creating a production line of Starship. In addition to the existing and expanding Texas ...
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1answer
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Will SpaceX Starship have launch abort system? [duplicate]
Since future SpaceX Starship is planned as long duration passenger spacecraft for multiplanetary transport will it have launch abort system? Also how is crew evacuation planned during interplanetary ...
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What is a thrust puck on Starship?
Elon Musk recently mentioned a Thrust Puck on Twitter, "We’re stripping SN2 to bare minimum to test the thrust puck to dome weld under pressure, first with water, then at cryo."
He also mentioned ...
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1answer
146 views
What have been so far the benefits of the competition between construction sites for Starship by SpaceX?
As stated by Elon Musk himself, the construction of the prototypes of the future space vehicle by SpaceX, Starship, should benefit from the competition between two teams at Boca Chica and the Cape ...
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How will the huge SpaceX Starship be moved/ferried on long distances on the ground?
There are evidences that the current rocket by SpaceX, Falcon 9 booster can be ferried on long distances on the regular road network. Long distance road ferry movements seems to be necessary because ...
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Building a city on the Moon using inflatable modules, and the Starship as a launch vehicle? [closed]
What are the main challenges for someone (such as Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk) to mass-produce a flight-ready inflatable habitat(1000 of them), capable of sustaining 16 humans, and use them to build a ...
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G forces of Starship 1 when leaving Earth orbit?
Is there a stated estimate of what the G forces an astronaut would experience on Starship 1 when leaving Earth orbit?
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Why is a 1.5:1 TWR desirable for a reusable launcher?
According to a Teslerati article linked from another QA:
The most critical component for the booster, according to Musk, is that there is “a lot of force pushing up.” He states that to launch ...
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1answer
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Estimate of how fast will the Starship/Super Heavy be moving 5 and 10 seconds after liftoff?
I am wanting to make a comparison of the expected initial seconds of the ascent of the Starship/Super Heavy compared to the similar time of the Saturn V ascent.
If this chart (from a NASA space math ...
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1answer
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Why did the SpaceX Starship MK1 prototype pop?
During a pressurization test on November 20th, 2019, SpaceX's Starship MK1 prototype "popped" at the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica TX.
Do we know what caused this apparent failure? Some claim that ...
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Why is SpaceX not also working on a smaller version of Starship?
SpaceX is planning to retire Falcon 9, which would leave it with only Starship. While a Starship launch is expected to be cheaper than a Falcon 9 one, a downscaled Starship launch would be cheaper ...
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Power supply for StarShip?
Early renderings of the Mars Colonial Transport showed 2 fan shaped solar arrays deployed while in space. I haven seen any depictions of the StarShip with a solar array either in orbit or standing on ...
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1answer
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What is the expected date for the first Starship 20km test flight?
What is the expected date for the first Starship test flight which is aiming for 20km flight? Is there any news about it?
Initially, it was 11th October but after September 27 presentation it is ...
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1answer
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Why do two Starships dock in such a manner their heat shields face opposite sides?
In the Starship Launch Animation, first, a crewed Starship launches and reaches orbit. Then the fuel tanker Starship rendezvous with the former and docks like this for orbital re-fuelling.
It can be ...
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4answers
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Why don't we use sound suppression system when rocket lands propulsively?
We know that the sound suppression system (water deluge system) is used to protect the launch vehicle from the acoustic energy produced by the engines. For most of the expendable launch vehicles, it ...
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SpaceX Starship landing on Moon or Mars: why doesn't it fall over?
How does the SpaceX Starship design accommodate uneven landing surfaces that might not be stable under the weight of the vessel?
I don't understand how SpaceX's Starship would be able to land on ...
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1answer
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What are SpaceX's Starship's header tanks?
In the Everyday Astronaut video A conversation with Elon Musk about Starship after about 13:00 Musk shows Dodd a cell phone video that he shot in the top(?) of the ...
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How will the crew exit Starship when it lands on Mars?
When SpaceStarship lands Mars, the crew will be almost 50 meters above the surface. How will they get out with all their equipment?
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Could SpaceX's Starship's landing and restart process work on Titan?
Gravity on Saturn's moon Titan is much weaker and the atmosphere is far denser than either Earth's or Mars's, which Starship seems to have been designed for. Could an unmanned starship do an Earth-...
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How do the mechanical properties of 301 stainless steel, carbon fibre composites, and Aluminium-Lithium alloys compare?
The design of Starship and its Super Heavy booster is based on the reported fact that 301 stainless steel is advantageous to advanced carbon fiber composites and Aluminium-Lithium alloys at both ...
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1answer
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What might the description “tiny glass vermicelli at a microstructure level” refer to? (SpaceX Starship heat shield tiles)
In the Starship Update at about 21:05 Musk says:
We’ve gone through various iterations of heat shield, there’s a lot of ways to skin a cat here. Ultimately we ...
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1answer
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What are these things in Elon Musk's tweeted Starship video?
I don't understand what I'm looking at in the video of this Elon Musk tweet. The text says:
Just leaving SpaceX Starship build site in Boca
These are reminiscent of funhouse mirrors. What are ...
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1answer
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What will the role of a pilot be on the SpaceX Starship?
I suspect that near Earth, everything will be remotely automated. But for lunar operations, the latency of communication may necessitate SOME local human interaction, and it seems Mars operations ...
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2answers
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Is SpaceX's Starship single stage to orbit?
A recent Space.com article says:
We should see the (Space-X Starship) Mk1 in action soon. SpaceX aims
to fly the vehicle to an altitude of about 12 miles (20 kilometers) in
October, then ...
7
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1answer
251 views
Why did August 28th, 2019 Starhopper's test roll so much to the left?
The last Starhopper test flight included a left roll of roughly 160°. It seems to have tried stopping the roll shortly after apogee using RCS thrusters, and once again shortly before touchdown.
...
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Why doesn't Starship have four landing legs?
A counterpart to the question Why doesn't the Falcon-9 first stage use three legs to land?
This excellent answer states that the first stage of the Falcon-9 uses four legs because four legs are ...
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1answer
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Is a Mars return mission by Starship possible without local propellant production, given the current specifications?
Let's imagine that Starship and Super Heavy were currently operational delivering the anticipated performance and reliably performing orbital refueling. As far as I know, Starship is capable of ...
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1answer
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Could Spacex build a starhopper (starship prototype) at Vandenburg, CA launch site?
I know Spacex is building a starhopper (starship prototype) in Texas and Florida. Could they also build a starhopper prototype at the Vandenburg, CA launch complex? I know Vandenburg is better for ...
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How will SpaceX's Starship accommodate its 100 passengers from the effects of micro-gravity?
According to this Wikipedia article, Starship will take on average 115 days (3.8 months) to get to Mars and 150 days maximum (4.9 months).
with an average trip time to Mars of approximately 115 ...
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What are the ways in which launch cost/ kg could be reduced below that of the proposed BFR? [closed]
As seen in this spacex video, they claim that the BFR, when ready, would have the lowest marginal cost per launch. Also, it has the maximum payload of the rockets mentioned in the video. Is there any ...
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1answer
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Is there any use for the “main body tool” of the BFR, now that the design has switched from carbon fiber to steel?
As far as I know, the BFR's main body tool was supposed to serve as a positive mold for the carbon fiber structure. Now that the design is deprecated and that SpaceX is building Starhopper without ...
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2answers
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Could the BFR Tanker be used as an artificial gravity counterweight for interplanetary travel?
An alternative storyline to the Mars transport architecture: Tankers refuel starship, last Tanker gets mounted on the Starship for the Mars orbital injection burn, once on a Martian trajectory tanker ...
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For the Starhopper testing, how will SpaceX hold down the vehicle?
SpaceX is testing the Raptor engine on the Starhopper they built in Boca Chica.
For static fires of a Falcon 9/Heavy they use the pad itself, the holddowns to the pad, to keep it from taking off.
...
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Has SpaceX been communicating with the German SHEFEX program about their actively cooled heat shield tests?
The German SHarp Edge Flight EXperiment has used some sounding rockets to test aerodynamic control surfaces during hypersonic reentry. The nose consists of thin ceramic plates bolted to aluminum with ...
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What type of propellant does Spacex plan to use in Starship for long duration missions?
For long duration missions such as ones to mars what type of propellant would be best suited?
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1answer
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Will SpaceX vehicles orbit Mars before they enter the atmosphere?
When SpaceX starts sending vehicles to Mars, how will they handle landing on Mars?
Will the Starship (Upper Stage, transit vehicle) slow down enough to capture into orbit of Mars before entering the ...
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What are SpaceX Starship/BFR proposed abort modes?
From the different renderings of Starship no escape systems can be seen.
What will the different abort modes both during launch and landing be like?
What happens for example if the first stage ...
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1answer
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How will SpaceX Starship deploy its payload?
Most modern orbital launchers like the SpaceX Falcon9 have their payload at the front covered by a fairing which splits in half, ejecting the fairings and exposing the payload for deployment.
With ...
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2answers
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Active liquid cooling for heat shield
I have not found much about active liquid cooling for heat shields using cryogenic fuel. It has been mentioned but not researched in depth. It may never have been done. Now that the Starship seems to ...
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Why has SpaceX changed Starship from carbon fiber composite to stainless steel?
Recently, there was news that SpaceX changed the material used for the BFS/Starship (upper stage of the BFR) from initially planned carbon fiber to metal which seems quite counter-intuitive as carbon ...
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1answer
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Why can't SpaceX Starship perform the same landing procedure as the Falcon 9 does?
I know... Elon Musk calls the redesign of the BFR "unintuitive".
I'm just trying to get ahead of the Starship introduction and hop test presumably in March/April timeline.
But isn't it better to use ...
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1answer
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should spacex have 2 versions of the BFS (sub-orbital city and orbital BFR)? [closed]
The Big Falcon Ship (BFS) has been renamed to Starship. The Big Falcon Booster (BFB) has been renamed to Heavy Booster.
Will the sub-orbital version of BFS Starship for Earth to Earth missions, be ...
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Details about the BFR abort procedures?
What kind of emergency procedures will the BFR have during landings? I can see an abort to an alternate landing zone but what about when you have a an emergency ten seconds after engine shutdown?
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How much noise would the BFR make at launch?
In addition to multi-planetary travel, SpaceX has plans to use the BFR for intercontinental travel. However, would the sound generated by the BFR's launch disrupt local communities and therefore make ...
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Will it be possible to see BFR approaching the moon from earth, with naked eye?
The title pretty much sums it up. I'm not old enough to have experienced any of the previous manned moon landings. Given that Big Falcon Rocket will go around the moon in 2023, I'm wondering if one ...
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2answers
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Drawbacks and advantages of two slidable & rotatable control surfaces for BFS sized spaceships
BFS (SpaceX's Big Falcon Spaceship) is in development and has seen between 2016 and 2018 three major design modifications.
January 2018 I asked here how BFS planned to manoever during aerobraking.
...
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How does SpaceX plan to deal with boiloff on the trip to Mars?
Both BFR booster and BFS are to run on Raptor engines, fueled with liquid methane and liquid oxygen - cryofuels.
The trip to Mars will take at least a couple months, and BFS requires fuel for powered ...
