22 Facts About SpaceX Starship

SpaceX Starship had envisioned a large-capacity launch vehicle concept since as early as 2005.

In July 2010, after the final launch of Falcon 1 a year prior, SpaceX Starship presented at a conference Mars space tug and heavy-lift launch vehicle concepts, called Falcon X, Falcon X Heavy, and Falcon XX.

SpaceX Starship's development is iterative and incremental, marked by tests on rocket prototypes.

In June 2020, SpaceX started construction of a launch pad for orbit-capable Starship rockets.

SpaceX Starship SN5 was built with no flaps or nose cone, giving it a cylindrical shape.

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Month later, on 3 March 2021, after an initially aborted launch three hours earlier, SpaceX Starship SN10 launched on the same flight path as its two predecessors.

Blue Origin, a bidding competitor to SpaceX Starship, disputed the decision and began a legal case in August 2021, and it was later dismissed by the Court of Federal Claims three months later.

Two weeks later, NASA and SpaceX Starship announced their plans to construct Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 49.

SpaceX Starship is designed to be a fully reusable and orbital rocket, aiming to drastically reduce launch costs and maintenance between flights.

SpaceX Starship is a second stage or long-duration spacecraft, forming the upper part of the rocket.

At the aft end of the SpaceX Starship spacecraft are six Raptor engines, three of which are designed for operation in the lower atmosphere, and the other three Raptor Vacuum engines are optimized to operate in the vacuum of space.

SpaceX Starship HLS is a crewed lunar lander variant of the SpaceX Starship spacecraft for NASA's Artemis program.

SpaceX Starship's reusability is expected to reduce launch costs, expanding space access to more payloads and entities.

SpaceX Starship is expected to be able to launch up to three times per day and replace the company's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

One way for SpaceX Starship to meet its demand is to launch rideshare missions that carry many satellites at once.

For example, large space telescopes such as the Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor can be launched on SpaceX Starship, allowing researchers to detect Earth-like exoplanets.

SpaceX Starship cited the Rosetta space probe and Philae lander's mission cost of $1.

In 2011, SpaceX Starship proposed robotic scientific missions to Mars using the Red Dragon capsule adapted from its Dragon capsule, but the proposal was eventually abandoned around 2017.

Musk has made many tentative predictions about SpaceX Starship's first crewed Mars landing, the most recent one being 2029, made in March 2022.

However, some are sceptical that SpaceX will meet the prediction, as the company has not detailed technical plans about Starship's life-support systems, radiation protection, and in-orbit refueling.

SpaceX Starship then said in the far future, most Starship launches would start from offshore platforms.

Proponents of SpaceX Starship's arrival said the company would provide money, education, and job opportunities to the country's poorest areas.