Posted on 02/18/2022 8:45:00 AM PST by SunkenCiv
"It will obsolesce all existing launch systems".
Elon Musk recently provided the first big update on SpaceX's Mars-bound rocket, Starship, and its competitors are watching on with "a mix of awe and horror", according to a report from Politico.
At his latest Starship presentation, SpaceX CEO Musk highlighted the fact that Starship will be reusable over and over again at a fraction of the cost of previous rockets. It's a development that threatens to leave NASA and other competitors in its wake as it launches to the proverbial stratosphere...
While it has long been known that Starship would be reusable, the advanced capabilities reportedly have other space organizations, including NASA, worried that their own in-development rocket projects will be rendered obsolete...
Starship is designed to be the first reusable spacecraft that will be able to take crew and cargo to the Moon and Mars before returning to Earth. By contrast, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) for its Artemis Moon landing missions has gone billions of dollars over original budget estimations and is years behind schedule. What's more, NASA estimates that an SLS mission will cost approximately $2 billion per launch, while Musk announced in his latest presentation that a Starship mission could cost a comparatively low $1 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at interestingengineering.com ...
Aw..... come on, man. Was hoping to see an actual photo of this thing.
Hasn’t done anything yet
The difference in price is because of
1. Falcon9 doesn’t recover the second stage. They have to build a new one for each launch
2. They have to raise money to pay for Starship development
Elon wants to get it where Starship only has to be refueled like a 747 between each trip. Hey may never get to $1 mil per launch, but he will try.
Literally.
The cost per pound to orbit drops in large part because of reusability, amortizing the development and construction costs, and getting the launch costs down dramatically.
The Raptor 2 is in production now, at a rate of one per day. If you go back to the three part interview of Musk by The Everyday Astronaut, you’ll hear Elon talk about Raptor 2 while they’re standing by a Raptor 1, and he said it was going to have a reduced parts count.
The moon is pocked with huge craters caused by asteroid collisions over billions of years. Those asteroids are said to be rich with extremely valuable minerals. always wondered if such a starship that Elon is building would be immensely profitable if it was used to mine those craters.
NASA is the most expensive welfare program America has. They are not excited because of scientific advancements, they are afraid someone’s going to steal their cheese.
There are some at NASA who see it that way, and are eager to uncouple from the old-line aerospace contractors. The SLS should be flat-out cancelled as soon as Starship does its first orbital launch, which may be as early as next month.
The SLS uses a re-invented wheel approach, but is years behind schedule and will still rely on solid rocket boosters — and launch cost will exceed those of the space shuttle, despite being a follow-on from that technology.
I think SpaceX was smart to let that one go a short while back, a contract award to Blue Origin, which won’t be able to fulfill it because it can’t even get done the stuff it has been working on for years.
This is the beauty of a first-rate corporation, in competition with high-paid, high-minded government employees, who care more about their 401k, ira’s, and government sponsored mutual funds, more than “we shoulda been to dah moon years ago” attitude. Also, the government employees are dependent upon a geriatric Congress, whereas the corporation is not.
Weird that it looks like something out of a 50’s B movie...
Speakking of lunar craters, there was news in the past few weeks that an old SpaceX upper stage was going to crash into the Moon (on the back side) in March — turns out, it’s a Chinese spent rocket that’s going to make the hit.
It always helps when Engineers are doing the design and not Congress Critters buying votes for jobs in their Districts.
I just want my Starlink…………..
Should be here next week!!
an elephant is a mouse built to Government specifications.
“...as it launches to the proverbial stratosphere...”
Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Or you will be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
Or he will be wise in his own eyes.
Proverbs 26:4-5
But But But is his company diverse??
i hope elon’s starship is more real than that “boring machine” of his that was gonna bore tens of thousands of miles of interstate hyper-speed tunnels between all the U.S. cities ...
NASA can still have a job warning us about global warming.
Who needs any of that spaceship stuff?
NASA changed after Apollo. They had issued mission specifications and allowed bidders almost free-reign to issue design proposals. After Apollo they were buying hardware and the aerospace industry was treated like a captive government arsenal.
Range time is well over $10 Million per day. (required for tracking etc.)
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