Starship's advanced design is said to have NASA officials "[bleep]ing the bed"

Interesting Engineering ^ | February 16, 2022 | Chris Young

[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.

[Demiurge2]

Take a “wait and see” with Elon’s predictions...

[SunkenCiv]

"A follow up of my takeaway from the first official Starship Update in 2 years. The last time they did one of these the vehicle on display was Starship Mk1 which exploded in a pressure, but since then SpaceX has progressed to exploding prototypes during fueling tests, exploding prototypes during flight tests, and hoping to not explode a booster during an orbital test.

"So now we have a full Starship stack on display and the most important updates in my mind are the Raptor 2 progress and the clarification of the role of Boca Chica vs Florida vs Sea Platforms for the long term program."

Elon Musk Hates Flanges - Starship Update 2022 | February 13, 2022 | Scott Manley

[SunkenCiv]

No, we can’t.

[Carriage Hill]

Somehow, I’m not surprised at this.

[PapaBear3625]

This is why the FAA keeps stalling allowing Musk to do his test launches. Latest is “environmental impact”.

[SunkenCiv]

Starbase Tour with Elon Musk [PART 2] | August 7, 2021 | Everyday Astronaut

[CodeToad]

NASA was one of the first Affirmative Action hire orgs in the federal government and it shows. They are grossly incompetent.

[PIF]

Wait and see is just silly - musk has proven all the tech he’s made at SpaceX. The only major things to work on are
1. Keeping the Dragon 2 engine bells from melting at 300 Barr.
2. Making the Dragon capsule bigger for Moon and Mars manned missions.
3. Mars life support systems.

All the rest depend on rapid prototyping about which the FAA is determined to prevent by citing environmental crap at his Texas facility.

Accordingly, Musk will move his entire operation to the Cape, where he already has launch permission and two towers in various stages of build - this should take 6-8 months.

[jimmygrace]

Why the Biden administration hates Elon Must, reason number 2247...

[cgbg]

I think the technology Musk will need (whether he knows it or not) is robot/mechanized prepping on the Moon or Mars by creating fully stocked underground habitats for humans before sending any folks there.

That would minimize the risk to humans—and would make them much more productive upon their arrival.

[PIF]

I think the technology Musk will need (whether he knows it or not) is robot/mechanized prepping on the Moon or Mars by creating fully stocked underground habitats for humans before sending any folks there.
—

His plans for years now, if you watch any of the SpaceX videos, are to set up the lunar colony remotely with everything it needs to be self-sufficient **before** people arrive. Same for Mars. 100% of everything needed.

[cgbg]

Good to hear—gives him time to decouple from NASA—and then he can make it happen.

[RinaseaofDs]

$2B per launch vs $1M per launch.

2000 round trips to the Moon and Mars for the price of 1 NASA trip to the Moon.

If this is close to real, the next five to ten years will be extraordinary.

Personally, I’d have gone to Venus first, as an atmospherically based platform could have humans operating outside the facility in shirtsleeves.

Landing on Venus is another thing entirely.

[CodeJockey]

What Musk has going for him that NASA doesn’t is that his team can hire the best of the best without regard to race, sexual orientation, political views, etc.

NASA, on the other hand has to fill quotas and we all know how that works out.

How many people are automatically disqualified from being a nominee for the next SCJ just because of their race and gender.

[GingisK]

Elon won’t spend $200 on a toilet seat.

[Captain Peter Blood]

Great article and I can now see the problems on a spacesuit. So after reading I am no skeptical whether we actually went to the moon. 1960’s technology certainly could not solve the space suit problems, I would like to know more about what the soviets did in comparison with the suits they came up with. A lot of information to digest.

Thanks for the link.

[PTBAA]

I’m concerned that the success of the Starship program will negatively impact NASA’s core mission of Muslim outreach.

[PIF]

NASA is a customer that his Texas site eliminates ...

[GingisK]

Looks like something way different to me. Porn in Space, coming to a launch pad near you.

[GingisK]

He is even really mean like Edison.