Questions tagged [spacex-starship]
Questions regarding SpaceX's Starship, formerly the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) upper stage or BFS
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When chopsticks catch the booster by the grid fins, what is the maximum vertical speed?
How much vertical speed can the grid fins handle before breaking off?
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Has Spacex released any reports describing how they are going to secure the payload on Starship?
SpaceX has announced that Starship will be able to lift around 100 to 150 tons of cargo into Leo. When the spacecraft is landing or taking off you don’t want the payload just floating insecurely in a ...
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Starship deorbit process
It does not seem to me that SpaceX will use thrusters similar to Draco to deorbit Starship, and I think firing a Raptor would be too powerful. All I can imagine is that it will use ullage gases ...
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What is the value of SpaceX Starship 1200-ton propellant capacity? Would a fully refueled Starship be able to accelerate to Jupiter (for example)? [duplicate]
2200000N (1 Raptor) / 1,300,000*0.4 kg (Total weight adjusted to fuel loss) = 4.2 m/s^2 (acceleration)
Delta-V (to travel to Jupiter) = 9000 m/s
9000 m/s / 4.2 m/s^2 = 2,142 s (1 Raptor engine ...
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How much of LOX will have to be generated for SpaceX Starship to get back from 16 Psyche?
Mixture ratio for Oxygen/Methane is 3.6 to 1
Liquid oxygen temperature of -183°C
16 Psyche (in shade) -113.15°C (https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche)
Looks like the idea of bringing enough ...
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Why does the more complex looking Starship launch tower cost so much less than SLS' tower?
On the surface, you would think that SpaceX launch tower would be more costly with its mechanical arms, but I doubt it touches the cost of the SLS'. Is this mainly due to the use of hydrogen, or are ...
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What is SpaceX doing differently with Starship to avoid it exploding like the N1?
Both Starship and the N1 have more than 30 rocket engines. The N1 exploded after having a chain reaction from a failed engine.
N1 rocket engines:
Starship’s rocket engines:
Unlike the N1, SpaceX has ...
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What is the cause of soot in the plume of the Raptor engine?
Though the Raptor engine burns quite clean, it was clear from some early test flights that it did produce some visible soot:
There have been differing explanations for the exact cause of/source of ...
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How will Starlink 2.0 fit on a Falcon 9?
According to nextspaceflight.com the last Starlink flight of 2022 (possibly delaying into Jan 2023) is group 5-1 and is flying some kind of Starlink 2.0 payloads.
It was understood that Starlink 2.0's ...
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How does SpaceX plan to utilize the (currently empty) high bay 2 in the VAB?
Elon Musk mentioned previously that SpaceX is in talks with NASA to utilize High Bay 2 in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, presumably for Starship operations, how would this be ...
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How long would it take Starship to get to Neptune without any flybys?
After seeing this answer (https://space.stackexchange.com/a/60438/44505) saying that starship could get to Neptune, I wondered how long it would take to get to Neptune. Bonus question: Would it be ...
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Can Starship go beyond Mars?
According to inverse.com aboard starship "Its use of liquid oxygen and methane as rocket fuel means astronauts can fly to Mars, refuel using the planet’s resources," but can we go further? ...
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Could a third stage be added to Starship?
SpaceX has predicted that Starship will be able to lift up to 150 tons to LEO. Could some of the payload that it will carry have a third stage? If so could that save another flight of Starship since ...
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Will Starship get refueled in Mars orbit?
The current plans of Spacex is to have Starship get refueled in LEO and then fly to Mars and refuel it there on the ground. Will Starship also have to get refuel while it is in orbit around Mars on it'...
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Can starship land back on earth after sending 100 tons to LEO? [closed]
Starship payload capacity to LEO is shown as 100 metric tons in SpaceX's Page. Can the starship land after sending this payload or will it require orbital refuelling to return to earth?
Related but ...
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Can we use magnets to land a spaceship (Starship)?
Can we use magnets to land a spaceship (Starship)?
We could give the landing legs a magnetic flat surface or something and then the controller can reduce the magnetic strength or in other words, ...
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How many cargo flights are needed before Starship can carry people?
I have seen mention that the Starship will need to have a track record of a certain number of flights before it can carry people. I suppose NASA sets this number. I don't know if it's an absolute ...
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Would it be possible to get a modified SprHvy booster to orbit, then send a full stack with Starship on a "standard" config, then mate them in orbit?
The idea is to get a modified Superheavy booster to orbit minus Starship. Then send a Starship to orbit on a standard configuration, and mate the first booster with the recently arrived Starship. So ...
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With and without refilling at LEO, how much more than the landers weight of the Venera 9 mission could a Starship deliver near a pole of Venus?
Venera 9 was a Soviet space mission to Venus that consisted of an orbiter and lander with a launch mass of 4936 kg and with an entry mass of 1560 kg. It was the first spacecraft to return an image ...
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What is the lowest the cost of launch can get to?
The cost of launch has been dramatically reduced by companies such as SpaceX building parts in house. Once that lowered the cost of launch as much as it could, they moved onto reusing the first stage, ...
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Starting refueled in LEO, how much payload could a heat-protected Starship softly land on Mercury after a gravity assist from Venus?
This question may be a crucial follow-up to this one because in this answer it is calculated that the payload to Mercury without a gravity assist would probably be minimal, so if already a moderate ...
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If one Starship can transport 100 people to Mars, how many could it safely land near Mercury's north pole after one Hohmann-like transfer?
Personally, I would rather live near Mercury's north pole than anywhere on Mars mainly because:
The permanently shadowed craters harbor abundant water ice and other frozen volatile materials
Mercury ...
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Can Starship reach orbit without superheavy, now upgraded as of Jan 2022 to 9 engines and stretched tanks?
Can Starship reach orbit without superheavy, now that it's been upgraded as of Jan 2022 to 9 engines (added 3 vacuum raptors) and stretched tanks? Back in 2018 Elon said on twitter that the earlier ...
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Elon Musk's ITS Travel Time to Mars Estimate
The average travel time to Mars has been quoted to be around nine months (~ 270 days). This assumes current propulsion methods and when Mars and Earth are near each other.
Musk has been quoted to say ...
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How much equipment will be required to mine 600 tons of water ice on Mars?
Assuming that Starship needs to fully refuel on the Martian surface to return to Earth, that will require about 260 tons of methane->66 tons of hydrogen->600 tons of water, which you would need ...
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How will SpaceX build a SuperHeavy launch mount at LC39A, an active launch pad?
We have seen how fast SpaceX built the Boca Chica launch mount. We also saw the approach of building the base, then lifting segments built offsite (At the gas well site) to assemble them.
However, as ...
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Are there any studied landing sites on Mars for a crewed landing?
I am currently working on a research project regarding the distribution of Calcium Perchlorate on the surface of Mars' effect on the human body, and for this I would like to look at the concentrations ...
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Could SpaceX Super Heavy (Starship) Booster reach Earth orbit without starship on top?
I'm thinking about orbital fuel tanks for low earth orbit, and even Mars orbit in the event fuel farms on Mars take longer to build than anticipated.
That said, Can SpaceX put a nosecone on its Super ...
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At what rate will starship's fuel boil off during a Mars trip? [duplicate]
During the coast to mars, how much fuel will boil off, and how would this be handled?
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Has SpaceX chosen to drop the Transpiration cooling of Starship? If so, why?
Earlier, there was news about a proposed concept for Starship to include "transpirational cooling" in its reentry heat shield design.
These days there is less news about this and tests so ...
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Has a single Falcon 9 ever launched twice in a day?
Musk says in this Tweet on Nov 9, 2019,
"If we build as many Starships as Falcons, so ~100 vehicles & each does 100 tons to orbit, that’s a capacity of 10 million tons of payload to orbit ...
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How is the Mechazilla 'claw' on the Starship Launch Tower different from earlier launch tower connections?
Launch towers have various umbilicals, arms, and stabilizers connected to a rocket prior to launch. How is the Mechazilla 'claw' on the Starship Launch Tower different from the earlier launch tower ...
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Starship reentry velocity on return from Mars: What are the options
What are the reentry velocity options available to Starship on return from Mars? I assume the approach will be significantly faster than a Hohmann transfer orbit due to timing of transfer windows and ...
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How are vacuum optimized engines tested without disintegrating them?
SpaceX recently test fired vacuum optimized raptor engines of starship. Doesn't vacuum optimized engines disintegrate when operated in atmosphere? If yes, what additional modifications are made to the ...
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How does SpaceX plan to supply or recycle respiratory gasses?
If Starship carries 100 passengers to Mars, they will consume about 6 metric tons of oxygen and produce about 10 tons of CO2 on each leg of the trip. Much more if they exercise.
CO2 could be converted ...
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Starship: Methane and Oxygen can't both be liquid, except in a narrow temperature range. Is this a problem for interplanetary voyages?
On an extended spaceflight in Starship, the liquid propellant and oxidizer will tend towards the same temperature. The tanks can be refrigerated by boiling off contents, but your mileage may vary ...
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Pressure inside Starship CH4 and LOX header tanks during entire Earth-Mars trip and landing on Mars?
What should be the pressure inside Starship CH4, LOx header tanks during the entire Earth-Mars trip and landing on Mars ?
The main CH4, LOx tanks should be under 6 bar pressure, because that is the ...
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Why are the metal tubes of Mechazilla base thinner than the tubes of its claw?
From here and other sources. You can see that the lines at the left ("claw") are thicker than lines ar right ("base.")
Why? Intuitively, it seems that it should be the opposite.
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Why so many thermal insulation tiles on Starship are marked broken?
From the photos it seems that about 40% of the tiles were marked with orange strips at some moment, while another 30% with green strips as misaligned. Why the percentage is so high? Why they could not ...
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Post-flight analysis of SpaceX Starship 20 heat shield tiles
If Starship 20 will not be recovered, how will SpaceX evaluate the performance of the heat tiles? If a couple of heat tiles fall off and the Starship bursts into flames, how can SpaceX figure out ...
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Would SpaceX Starship be able to slow down enough to enter orbit or land on Pluto-like objects?
The probes that use current technology to get to Pluto or other outer solar system objects cannot slow down enough for orbit insertion, so they can only flyby. But would Starship be able to slow down ...
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Can Starship become the cheapest rocket even in expendable version? [closed]
Given SpaceX is streamlining the mass production of Starships and raptors, can it turn out that Starship would become the cheapest rocket compared to other rockets for its load even if used as ...
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Why is it not concerning from a cost perspective to have so many engines on Starship?
Starship is meant to imitate (to a degree) the affordability of passenger jets. This applies to Earth-to-Earth travel as well as space travel.
Jetliners started with 4 engines, but have since migrated ...
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Exactly why does Starship need to be this big for interplanetary travel?
As discussed in several answers to Isn't Starship way too big? Starship's unusual size is due to it being intended for missions to the Red Planet. But why?
Even a smaller ship could satisfy the ...
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What if the Starship fins were fixed?
The body flaps on Starship have the responsibilty of controlling attitude during atmospheric flight. They are also needed to deal with the large moments created by carrying payloads in the nose.
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Why will the final version of Starship be almost empty after its first launch?
It has been announced that SpaceX Starship SuperHeavy will need 16 launches with the tankers to refuel Lunar Starship.
Why is the Starship going to be empty after reaching orbit, since the booster is ...
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How can SpaceX receive data from Starship during re-entry communications blackout
Surviving re-entry will be one of the initial critical aspects of the Starship development program.
If there are locations on the vessel where the heat-shield fails, leading to its destruction how ...
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How can the Starship booster stand vertically without falling over?
How can the Starship booster stand vertically without falling over?
In my day to day experience, similar long objects (simple objects that can be easily found in thehouse) tend to fall easily with a ...
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Which star could Starship reach soonest?
We've been mocking Starship because it's not going to fly to another star, but according to this solar system delta v map it only takes 5.63 km/s from a Moon transfer orbit to Sun escape velocity. A ...
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Can a spacecraft be "too large to dock" to the ISS?
A comment below Is Starship planned to fly directly to the ISS without first stage? Is it even possible? says:
to my best knowledge, the Starship will never be near the ISS. it is too large to dock ...
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