Posted on 03/04/2025 12:52:21 PM PST by Jonty30
While Elon Musk focuses on Mars, the Pentagon sees his new Starship program as the key to literal global domination. And if “amateurs talk about strategy, but experts think about logistics”, SpaceX has created exactly what’s needed.
How is Starship Different? Starship is unlike any rocket before. It’s 100% reusable. It lifts 100 tons, and that number will grow to 200 tons at least (the Saturn V Moon rocket, most powerful in history until now, could lift 130 tons). Starship can also refuel in orbit, so it can send that whole enormous cargo (which might well be several hundred people) anywhere in the Solar System and return whole. The Saturn V could only get a fraction of its payload to the Moon, returning only a tiny capsule.
The difference is staggering even before you consider this. Unlike airplanes, NASA, Boeing, China, Russia, Europe, everyone throws away every rocket they launch. What would it cost if you treated airplanes the same way? If you built a new one every time you flew, on average (based on list price for a new 737), that would increase the cost of each and every plane ticket by roughly $493,650.79. Each way.
Does the weight include the rocket and fuel?
Or just payload?
Tha is for the great article.
Send this to that bitch who asked what is Elon doing here.
According to this article payload to Starship, which is Spacex biggest rocket, the payload is 100-150 tons. Even if, to make a return trip from the ground, that still means delivery of a good 75 tons or so.
He can probably go bigger, with the only limitation being physics.
https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/
Since a single Starship in its maturity is expected to be turned around ans relaunched in a matter of hours, you don’t need ones even bigger. Also cargo size is limited to what can fit inside the faring (nose cone).
I was thinking of the rods from God when you brought it up.
No limit to what can be done.
Each rod from God can yield up to 10 tons of TNT, but even if it loses 20%, due to physics, each rod might do 8tons of TNT and there could be hundreds of rods dropping at once.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Physics/comments/3plrpp/what_would_the_explosive_yield_of_a_rod_from_god/
On track, they hope, to 25 launches per year.
How long will it take the other powers to catch up?
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China is the only one with several tests of reusable rockets - all have blown up so far. Russia is too broke to even consider it. India, Japan and Europe all have their own problems and are not in the running.
When do they plan to re-lauch from yesterday’s scrub?
It says here that SpaceX can turn a rocket around in about 9 days.
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-falcon-9-new-booster-turnaround-record-21-days/
Which can be increased, as the technology improves to decrease turnaround time.
Starship v3 will loft 200 US tons into LEO. With turn around time at less than 2 hours per launch tower - you do the math.
I’m looking at the Falcon 9 tempo of 2x a week.
Each one of your rods will need some form of guidance and some form of propulsion to course correct.
Too expensive, never happen.
When do they plan to re-lauch from yesterday’s scrub?
They have 3 day window, assuming they can get the fuel pump problem fixed in time.
That link led to this one, exactly on point for the article, they are already contracted
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Cargo
I’m looking at the Falcon 9 tempo of 2x a week.
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look at Starship tempo in hours
And to think, Musk was a liberal, (waited in line for 6 hours to shake Obama’s hand), and they’re turned him into a freedom fighter and populist by trans-ing his child.
Half of Trump’s cabinet is former Democrats, including Trump himself.
Each titanium that is recovered can be recast for another run.
It’s on par with nukes.
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