Questions tagged [spacex-starship]
Questions regarding SpaceX's Starship, formerly the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) upper stage or BFS
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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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2answers
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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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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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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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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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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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1answer
256 views
Active liquid cooling for heat shield
I have not been able to find much that has been written about active liquid cooling for heat shields using cryogenic fuel. It seems it has been mentioned but not really researched in depth. It's my ...
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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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555 views
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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105 views
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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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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497 views
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 ...
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3answers
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Will spacex launch in an inclined fashion while returning from mars?
Considering the toughest thing in launching a rocket is to achieve the tangential velocity, launching horizontally might give us an added advantage for delta V requirement.
This can't be done in ...
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1answer
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Can BFS land on the Moon?
Can BFS land on the Moon and return? No aerobraking, no ISRU resources to refuel on the surface for return, but much less delta-V than going to Mars. Landing legs are there, though the engines may be ...
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How the new BFS is supposed to dock for refuelling?
The previous design iteration of BFS called for flat tails to connect the tanker and the passenger version and facilitate propellant transfer through acceleration.
But the new version is depicted to ...
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2answers
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Why Spacex Lunar Mission date postponed?
Previously SpaceX Lunar mission date was 2022, but it is mentioned in the wiki that it is no earlier than 2023.
Why the date has been postponed?
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Is SpaceX lunar mission only a flyby mission, or it is going to land on Moon too?
Is SpaceX lunar mission only a flyby mission, or it is going to land on Moon too?
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SpaceX Lunar Mission when possibly will it take place in future?
As SpaceX has delayed the crewed Lunar Mission which was going to happen in 2018 and now as currently, BFR is in progress, and also as SpaceX has mentioned in the first half of 2019 it will conduct ...
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1answer
199 views
Silly concept: repurposing BFS into a spin-gravity habitat
The idea is the following: Launch four passanger carrying (but empty) BFS and a fifth, (satellite deploying version) which carries the central hub, outfitted with spin-up engines. Then manouver the ...
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Can a spaceship land on an icy body using retropropulsion? wouldn't the ice melt?
Can a spaceship, say Musk's BFR, actually land on the ice surface of Titan, or Europa, or Enceladus?
It seems to me that the hot exhaust gases would make the surface melt where the rocket is trying ...
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2answers
3k views
Why will the BFS reenter broadside rather than engine first?
Musk has stated that they added the delta wing to the BFS design because; from one flight to the next the ship may have differing payloads and differing fuel loads. These changes shift the center of ...
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653 views
Would it be possible for SpaceX's BFR to return the Hubble Space Telescope to Earth in the future?
Ever since the Space Shuttle retired, there was an unpopular decision to leave the Hubble Space Telescope until it eventually stopped working, since there was going to be no way to return it to Earth. ...
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Why is SpaceX building the Big Falcon Ship before the Big Falcon Rocket?
I believe that SpaceX is planning on building the BFS (Big Falcon Spacecraft) before the BFR (Big Falcon Rocket), which serves as the first stage for the second-stage BFS. Does anyone know why they ...
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How will they mitigate the effect microgravity has in the BFR on manned trip to mars?
Very curious to know this, since it doesn't look like the BFR will utilize centrifugal force to emulate gravity as far as I know.
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What are the details of the SSTO Mars profile for the BFR?
In this link and on other occasions, SpaceX has indicated that the BFR would land on Mars, "top off the tanks" as the article says, and then launch back to Martian orbit.
SSTO doesn't work on Earth ...
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Where will SpaceX build and launch the BFR?
SpaceX are planning a new very heavy launch vehicle called BFR. Although the site of manufacture has not been finalised yet (as far as I know), everyone seems to assume it will be on the east coast. ...
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Is it viable to use one or more BFR tankers as interplanetary boosters
Is it viable to Start the BFR mars burn while the ship is attached to one or more refueling boosters? (Imagine interplanetary booster) Using their combined engines the ship can achieve greater ...
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What will the heat shield on the BFS be made of
Musk has stated that the BFS will need a heat shield capable of reentering the atmosphere from interplanetary trajectories. So I take it the ship will come in directly from the transfer trajectory and ...
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Why 31 engines for the BFR?
I understand the philosophy of using relatively many smaller engines so that a single engine failure has minimal impact on the mission (provided you can keep the shrapnel from shredding the others) ...
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Capacity of the BFR tanker — how many flights to fully refuel the spaceship?
So, the current plan for the BFR has the spaceship massing 85 tons and carrying 50 tons of cargo plus around 1000 tons of fuel and oxidiser (according to wikipedia), most of which is presumably ...
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How will BFS maneuver during aerobraking?
Pictures of SpaceX's "Big Falcon Spaceship" (BFS) delta wing don't seem to show presence of any aerodynamic control surfaces. How will it's attitude be controlled when encountering the atmosphere?
To ...
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994 views
Range of BFR as single stage
The depictions of the BFR for earth to earth travel include the 1st stage booster. I would think if you are just going ballistic, the upper stage would have enough delta V to go it alone, for closer ...
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How long can it be reasonably expected to wait for the first flight of SpaceX's BFR? [closed]
Elon Musk has said that he's planning to launch two uncrewed BFR rockets to Mars by 2022. And of course there would be some test launches even before that. For such an enormous project, I don't see ...
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What kind of robots will be sent to Mars with the first Starships(s)? (ex BFR) [closed]
Elon Musk has recently announced plans to send two unmanned Starships to Mars in 2022. If the timeline is met, what robots will be sent? As I understand, the tasks will be
[...] landing two cargo ...
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Zero gee rice cooker for BFR's trip around the Moon; how would that work?
Because of where I'm currently living, I've gotten used to using a small rice cooker regularly.
@Tristan has pointed out that cooking dried rice, or dried beans in boiling water could not be done in ...
