SpaceX Starship

Starship

Starship launch vehicle assembled and stacked at Starbase
Function	sub-orbital spaceflight orbital spaceflight interplanetary spaceflight
Manufacturer	SpaceX
Country of origin	United States
Size
Height	121.3 m 398 ft
Diameter	9 m 29.5 ft
Mass	5,000 t 11,000,000 lb
Launch history
Launch sites	Starbase Launch Site Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A
Capacity with refueling Payload to low Earth orbit Mass 150 t 330,000 lb Volume 1,000 m³ 35,000 ft³ Payload to Moon Mass 100 t 220,000 lb Volume 1,000 m³ 35,000 ft³ Payload to Mars Mass 100 t 220,000 lb Volume 1,000 m³ 35,000 ft³
Stage information First stage – Super Heavy Height 71 m 232 ft Diameter 9 m 30 ft Empty mass 200 t 440,000 lb Propellant mass 3,400 t 7,500,000 lb Powered by Raptor engine (33) Maximum thrust 7,590 Tf 74,500,000 N 16,700,000 lbf Propellant liquid oxygen liquid methane Second stage – Starship Height 50 m 164 ft Diameter 9 m 30 ft Empty mass 100 t 220,000 lb Gross mass 1,300 t 2,900,000 lb Propellant mass 1,200 t 2,650,000 lb Powered by Raptor engine (3) Raptor Vacuum (3) Maximum thrust 14,700,000 N 1,500 Tf 3,300,000 lbf Propellant liquid oxygen liquid methane

Starship is a fully reusable, super heavy-lift launch vehicle that is currently being developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX. It is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built. The rocket consists of the Super Heavy booster stage and the Starship spacecraft on top, and is mainly constructed out of stainless steel. Both stages are fueled with liquid oxygen and methane, and are propelled by variants of Raptor engines. Both stages are designed for rapid reuse after a vertical landing. With a single launch, the expected payload to low Earth orbit is at least 100 t (220,000 lb). The planned Starship tanker variant can be used to refuel the main spacecraft in orbit, leading to the same payload for flights to the Moon and Mars.

SpaceX outlined such a rocket as early as 2005; its design and name were frequently changed. In July 2019, Starhopper, a prototype vehicle with extended fins, was able to hover. In May 2021, Starship SN15 flew to 10 km (6 mi) and landed after four failed attempts with earlier prototypes. As of June 2022, the first Starship rocket is planned to launch by the end of the year. The rocket's development is iterative and incremental with testing and manufacturing of prototypes. Critics, however, have noted its potential to damage the natural and social environment around the launch sites.

SpaceX plans to construct launch sites at Starbase in Texas and Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and to build two offshore launch platforms. In the near-term, Starship may deploy satellites and space probes, serve space tourists, and explore the Moon via the Artemis program. Further into the future, the rocket may travel between locations on Earth and aid SpaceX's ambition of colonizing Mars. Such level of operation is only possible with reduced launch cost.

Background

Further information: History of SpaceX, SpaceX reusable launch system development program, and SpaceX Starship development

In November 2005, in the United States, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk first referenced a rocket concept known as BFR, which matched some capabilities of the current Starship design. The rocket was to be equipped with a larger version of the Merlin engine known as Merlin 2. The concept had a lifting capacity of 100 t (220,000 lb) to low Earth orbit and was unable to relaunch. The announcement of this concept roughly coincided with the company's first and unsuccessful launch attempt in March 2006, carrying FalconSAT-2 on the small Falcon 1 rocket.

In 2011, SpaceX outlined a reduced-cost Mars mission using the Red Dragon capsule, a modified version of the Dragon 1 capsule. This plan was abandoned around 2017, when the propulsive landing technology for the Dragon capsule was deemed unsafe.

In 2012, the company revisited the BFR plan in the form of the Mars Colonial Transporter concept, whose design was to be powered by methane-fueled Raptor engines and would have a capacity of 100 people or 100 t (220,000 lb) of cargo to Mars. In September 2014, SpaceX broke ground on a South Texas facility for developing Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. In December 2015, the company's reusable launch system development program achieved the first booster landing at Falcon 9 flight 20.

SpaceX illustration of the 2016 Interplanetary Transport System

On 26 September 2016, a day before the 67th International Astronautical Congress, the Raptor engine was fired for the first time. At the event, Musk announced SpaceX was developing a new rocket, the Interplanetary Transport System, which would have both stages reused, a launch capacity of 300 t (660,000 lb) to low Earth orbit, and a low launch price. This concept presented the possibility of "tanker vehicles"; a spacecraft capable of carrying extra fuel and transferring it to another spacecraft in orbit. The booster stage was to be equipped with forty-two Raptor engines while the spacecraft would have been equipped with nine. The rocket's tanks were to be made from carbon composite, and would store liquid methane and liquid oxygen used by the Raptors. The concept, especially the technological feats required to make such a system possible and the funds needed, garnered a large amount of skepticism.

In September 2017, at the 68th Annual International Astronautical Congress, Musk announced the BFR, a revision to the Interplanetary Transport System's design. The rocket was still going to be reusable, but its launch capacity to low Earth orbit was reduced to 150 t (330,000 lb). The booster's engine count was reduced to thirty-one, and the rocket's body was smaller. Unlike its conceptual predecessor, the potential applications for the BFR were far more varied, such as sending satellites to orbit, traveling to the International Space Station, landing on the Moon, and traveling between spaceports on Earth. Nevertheless, its ultimate purpose was still to ferry crew to Mars. In April 2018, the Mayor of Los Angeles confirmed plans for a BFR rocket production facility at the Port of Los Angeles, but it was cancelled around May 2020.

In September 2018, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa announced the sponsored dearMoon project. With six to eight other artists, the crew would fly a free-return trajectory around the Moon on a BFR spacecraft, creating artworks throughout the mission. Musk commented the project gave considerable funding to the rocket's development. After Maezawa's announcement, Musk showed the spacecraft's new addition of flaps; two at the top and three at the bottom, which could be adjusted to control the spacecraft's descent. The bottom flaps could also be used as landing legs. That November, the rocket booster was first termed Super Heavy and the spacecraft was named Starship.

Development

Main article: SpaceX Starship development

Starship's development is iterative and incremental, and is mostly funded by SpaceX. Tests conducted on rocket prototypes range from proof pressure tests and static fires to full-flight tests with attempted recovery. Due to the company's openness to space news media, these rocket tests have received significant coverage.

Reception to Starship development among local communities has been mixed, especially from cities near the Starbase spaceport. Proponents of SpaceX's arrival said the company would provide money, education, and job opportunities to the country's poorest areas. Local governments have stated the company boosted the local economy by hiring local residents and increasing investment.

Opponents of the plan said the company encourages Brownsville's gentrification. They also highlighted the spaceport's dishonest planning: Starbase had been originally planned to launch Falcon rockets, but the site was now exclusively used to test Starships. The environmental assessment had not being performed at the start of the development program, and was only completed years later in June 2022. Some of the failed tests have resulted in large explosions, which scattered debris around Boca Chica Beach at Cameron County, causing major disruption to nearby wildlife reserves. SpaceX has also been criticized for interfering with Boca Chica residents' daily lives because nearby beaches and roads are frequently closed. Because of this, some residents have moved away or demanded financial reparations from the company.

Low-altitude flights

Starhopper while under construction

The first prototype to fly using a Raptor engine was called Starhopper. The vehicle had three non-retractable legs and was shorter than the final spacecraft design. The craft performed two tethered hops in early April 2019 and three months later, it hopped without a tether to around 25 m (80 ft). In August 2019, the vehicle hopped to 150 m (500 ft) and traveled to a landing pad nearby. As of August 2021, the vehicle has been retired and repurposed; it is now a mounting point for communication, weather monitoring and tracking equipment, and becoming a water tank.

In late September 2019, Musk presented more details about the lower-stage booster, the upper stage's method of controlling its descent, its heat shield, orbital refueling capacity, and potential destinations outside Mars. The spacecraft design was once again changed; the number of aft flaps at the bottom was reduced from three to two. Musk also said Starship's material was changed from carbon composites to stainless steel, citing lower cost, higher melting point, strength at cryogenic temperatures, and ease of manufacturing.

Since before the presentation, SpaceX was constructing the Starship Mk1 and Mk2 upper-stage prototypes, which were located at facility in Boca Chica, Texas, and the SpaceX facility in Cocoa, Florida, respectively. Mk1 was destroyed November 2019 during a pressure stress test and Mk2 did not fly because the Florida facility was deconstructed throughout 2020. In January 2020, SpaceX bought two drilling rigs for $3.5 million from Valaris plc each during Valaris's bankruptcy proceedings; SpaceX planned to repurpose the rigs as offshore spaceports.

SpaceX began naming its new Starship upper-stage prototypes with the prefix "SN". No prototypes between SN1 and SN4 flew; SN1 and SN3 collapsed during pressure stress tests and SN4 exploded after its fifth engine firing. During the interval, the company accelerated the construction of infrastructure at the spaceport, which used large tents, stations, and repurposed intermodal containers. When linked together, these facilities functioned as a production line, hastening rocket construction.

In June 2020, SpaceX started construction of a launch pad for orbit-capable Starship rockets. Starship SN5 was also built; the lack of flaps or nose cone gave it a cylindrical shape. The test vehicle consisted of one Raptor engine, propellant tanks, and a mass on top. On 5 August 2020, SN5 performed a 150 m (500 ft)-high flight, successfully landing on a nearby pad. On 3 September 2020, the similar-looking Starship SN6 successfully repeated the hop. A week later, SpaceX stress-tested a fuel tank, designated SN7.1, which was constructed from SAE 304L stainless steel grade rather than SAE 301 steel grade of earlier tanks. In the same September, the company fired its Raptor Vacuum engine in full duration.

High-altitude flights

Starship SN9 on a mount with its flaps closed

SN8 was the first complete Starship prototype and underwent four static fire tests between October and November 2020. The third test ingested fragments of pad material into its engine internals, causing a premature shutdown. The fourth static fire was successful and on 9 December 2020, SN8 flew, reaching an altitude of 12.5 km (7.8 mi). A few seconds before touchdown, however, an issue with fuel tank pressure caused the prototype to lose thrust and impact the pad. The test provoked condemnation from Federal Aviation Administration Associate Administrator Wayne Monteith because SpaceX had ignored FAA warnings of weather conditions. At the time, models suggested that the weather conditions could have worsened shock wave damage to nearby homes.

On 2 February 2021, Starship SN9 launched to 10 km (6.2 mi) and also crashed on landing. On 3 March 2021, after an initially aborted launch three hours earlier, Starship SN10 launched on the same flight path as its two predecessors. The vehicle then landed hard and crushed its landing legs, leaning to one side. Minutes later, it exploded, probably due to a propellant tank rupture. After approval from the FAA, on 30 March 2021, Starship SN11 flew into thick fog along the same flight path. The vehicle exploded during descent, scattering debris up to 8 km (5 mi) away.

In March 2021, the company sent a public construction plan that had two sub-orbital launch pads, two orbital launch pads, two landing pads, two test stands, and a large tank farm that stores propellant, to the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The company proposed developing the surrounding village Boca Chica into a company town named Starbase, raising concerns about SpaceX's authority, power, and potential abuse for eviction.

In early April 2021, the orbital launch pad's fuel storage tanks began to be mounted. A few weeks later, despite earlier misgivings about its complexity, NASA selected Starship HLS as the crewed lunar lander. Blue Origin disputed the decision with the Government Accountability Office. After the appeal was denied, the company began a legal case in August 2021, and it was later dismissed by the Court of Federal Claims three months later.

Starship prototypes SN12, SN13, and SN14 were scrapped before completion, and Starship SN15 was selected to fly instead. On 5 May 2021, SN15 launched, completed the same maneuvers as older prototypes, and landed softly, completing the first successful high-altitude test.

Planned orbital launches

Examination of Starship SN20's heat shield

In July 2021, Super Heavy BN3 conducted its first full-duration static firing, lighting three engines. A month later, using cranes, Starship SN20 was stacked atop Super Heavy BN4 for the first time. Starship SN20 was the first to include a body-tall heat shield, made of hexagonal heat tiles. In October 2021, the catching mechanical arms were installed onto the integration tower, forming the booster recovery system, and the last tank's thermal insulation cover was installed, marking the completion of the first tank farm. Two weeks later, north of Launch Complex 39B, NASA and SpaceX announced their plans to create Launch Complex 49, which will launch Starship rockets from Kennedy Space Center.

In February 2022, after stacking Starship SN20 on top of Super Heavy BN4 using mechanical arms, Elon Musk gave a presentation on Starship development at Starbase. He clarified much of the information provided in the past, gave updates on Raptor engine production, and announced the reopening of the Florida facility. The next month, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said the company would stop production of new Crew Dragon capsules and would focus on crewed Starship missions. Later in June, the Federal Aviation Administration determined that Starbase did not need a full environmental impact assessment, though the company must address outlined issues.

Although SpaceX has not received a launch license for Starbase as of 13 June 2022, the company explained the planned trajectory in a report sent to the Federal Communications Commission. During the orbital test flight, the rocket is planned to launch from Starbase, after which the Super Heavy booster will separate and perform a soft water landing around 30 km (20 mi) from the Texas shoreline. The spacecraft will continue flying with its ground track passing through the Straits of Florida and then softly land in the Pacific Ocean around 100 km (60 mi) northwest of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands. The spaceflight will last ninety minutes.

Design

Starship is designed to be a fully reusable orbital rocket, aiming to drastically reduce launch costs and maintenance between flights. The rocket will consist of a Super Heavy first stage or a booster and a Starship second stage or spacecraft, powered by Raptor and Raptor Vacuum engines. One launch may deliver more than 100 t (220,000 lb) to low Earth orbit, which would formally classify the rocket as a super heavy-lift launch vehicle. When stacked and fueled, Starship is about 5,000 t (11,000,000 lb) by mass, 9 m (30 ft) wide, and 120 m (390 ft) high. It is taller than the Saturn V by 9 m (30 ft), a rocket that was used for the NASA Apollo program of the 1960s and 1970s.

If SpaceX's vision is fully realized, Starship will be able to launch up to three times per day, which would cause large greenhouse gas emissions; one space physicist roughly calculated one Starship launch produces the equivalent of continuously flying an airplane for three years. A substantial carbon footprint may result from propellant production, transportation, and storage. Analysis of rocket emissions, however, is complicated and more research may be needed.

According to Eric Berger from Ars Technica in March 2020, manufacturing of the Starship rocket starts with rolls of steel. They are then unrolled, cut, and welded along the cut edge to create a cylinder 9 m (30 ft) in diameter, 2 m (7 ft) in height, and around 1,600 kg (4,000 lb) in mass. To make the outer layer of the Starship spacecraft, seventeen of these cylinders and nose cones are stacked and welded along their edges. Inside the body are domes separating liquid methane and oxygen tanks at high pressure. They are made by robots and welded at the rate of ten minutes per seam, equal to four hours per dome, and are later inspected with an X-ray machine. Starship's reusability and stainless-steel construction has influenced other rockets such as the Terran R and Project Jarvis.

Raptor engine

Main article: SpaceX Raptor

Sea level-optimized Raptor engine

Raptor is a family of SpaceX-manufactured rocket engines used in Starship. It burns liquid oxygen and methane in a full-flow staged combustion cycle. Methane was chosen for the Raptor engines because it may be cheaper, cannot coke (build up of soot), and could be produced on Mars via the Sabatier reaction. The engines run at an oxygen-to-methane mass ratio of 3.6 : 1; combusting a stoichiometric mixture would overheat and damage them. Raptor engines' plume is expected to contain water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen, methane, and oxygen.

The family uses a new alloy and can obtain 300 bar (4,400 psi) inside the main combustion chamber, the highest of all current engines. In the future, the engine family may be mass-produced and may cost about $230,000 per engine and $100 per kilonewton.

The Raptor family is the only full-flow staged combustion cycle engine currently in production. In the past, the Soviet Union and the United States tried to construct such an engine, but both products have never been put in a rocket. A general full-flow staged combustion cycle engine has two preburners connected to their matching turbopumps. One of the preburners is fed with an oxidizer-rich mixture and the other is fed with a propellant-rich mixture, which both combust slightly to spin the matching turbines. The cycle then feeds all the oxidizer-rich and propellant-rich gaseous mixture into the combustion chamber, unlike other engine cycles that waste some propellant. This increases the engine's chamber pressure, making more thrust and being more efficient overall.

SpaceX builds many other variants of Raptor. One variant is the Raptor Vacuum, which is designed to be fired in space and is equipped with a nozzle extension made from brazed steel tubes. The modifications increase the throat-area-to-exit-area ratio to 1:90 and specific impulse or fuel efficiency to 380 seconds. The Raptor 2 is the next generation in the family. It has a simpler design, produces 2.3 MN (520,000 lb_f) of thrust, and has its specific impulse reduced by three seconds. In the long term, SpaceX plans to make three variants of Raptor; sea-level-optimized engine with gimbaled thrust, sea-level-optimized engine without gimbaled thrust, and vacuum-optimized engine without gimbaled thrust.

Super Heavy booster

Super Heavy is the rocket's booster or first stage, and forms the lower part of the rocket. The booster measures 70 m (230 ft) tall, 9 m (30 ft) wide, and houses up to thirty-three sea level-optimized Raptor engines. The engine cluster is going to be more than twice as powerful as the Saturn V. Super Heavy's tanks can hold 3,600 t (7,900,000 lb) of propellant, consisting of 2,800 t (6,200,000 lb) of liquid oxygen and 800 t (1,800,000 lb) of liquid methane. The booster can also hold 280 L (74 US gal) of hydraulic fluid.

In a current Super Heavy prototype, its dry mass is estimated to be between 160 t (350,000 lb) and 200 t (440,000 lb), as the company tries to further reduce the mass. The tanks weigh 80 t (180,000 lb), the interstage between the booster and spacecraft weighs 20 t (44,000 lb), and all the engines and mounts weigh around 2 t (4,400 lb). The booster is equipped with four grid fins powered by electricity, each of which has a mass of 3 t (6,600 lb). The grid fins are unevenly spaced to allow the craft to obtain more pitch control and can only rotate in the roll axis. The fins control the booster's descent and work as a mounting point for a touchdown into the integration tower's mechanical arms. To control the booster's orientation, Super Heavy is going to fire cold gas thrusters that are fed with evaporated propellant inside the tanks. To detach from Starship spacecraft in space, the booster will move its firing engines and release the latches.

Starship spacecraft

Leeward angle of Starship SN16 spacecraft

The Starship spacecraft is being designed to be used both as a long-duration spacecraft on some missions and as the second stage of the two-stage rocket on every launch. The spacecraft is 50 m (160 ft) tall and has a dry mass of less than 100 t (220,000 lb). Starship's payload volume is about 1,000 m³ (35,000 cu ft), larger than the International Space Station's pressurized volume. By refueling the Starship spacecraft in orbit using tanker spacecraft, Starship will be able to transport payloads and astronauts to many destinations in the Solar System.

Starship has a total propellant capacity of 1,200 t (2,600,000 lb), divided into main tanks and header tanks. The header tanks have greater amount of insulation and are reserved to flip and land the spacecraft following reentry. The spacecraft also holds 130 L (34 US gal) of hydraulic fluid. At the bottom of the 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. The spacecraft has four body flaps to control the spacecraft's falling velocity and orientation, their hinges are sealed with metal because they are easily damaged during reentry otherwise. The spacecraft nose cone, as of August 2021, is made from two rows of stretch-formed steel.

Starship's heat shield, which is composed of thousands of hexagonal black tiles – each mounted and spaced to counteract expansion due to heat – is designed to be used multiple times, ultimately with no maintenance between flights. The tiles' hexagonal shape is designed to enable mass production and help prevent hot plasma from causing damage, allowing it to withstand temperatures of 1,400 °C (2,600 °F).

Variants

The generic cargo spacecraft variant may feature a large door replacing conventional payload fairings. The payload door would be closed during launch, opened to release its payload once in orbit, and closed again during reentry. It may be possible to mount the payload on the inside of the payload bay's sidewalls using trunnions, more suitable for payloads on ride-share missions. Payloads are integrated into a vertical rocket inside temperature-controlled, ISO class 8 clean air. For spacecraft tasked with deploying Starlink v2.0 satellites, they are going to be fitted with a dispenser. Starlink satellites in it will be released in pairs through a slot, akin to a Pez candy dispenser.

The crew spacecraft variant can be adapted for missions to the Moon, Mars, and other destinations. Each spacecraft can carry one hundred people, with "private cabins, large communal areas, centralized storage, solar storm shelters, and a viewing gallery". Starship's life-support system is expected to be regenerative, where resources are constantly recycled. Other than that, little information about it is provided to the public.

The tanker spacecraft variant can be used to refuel another Starship in orbit. According to Musk, up to eight launches of the tanker are needed to send a spacecraft to the Moon. In October 2020, NASA awarded SpaceX $53.2 million to conduct a large-scale flight demonstration, transferring 10 t (22,000 lb) of propellant between the tanks of two Starship spacecraft.

Starship HLS is a crewed lunar lander variant of the Starship spacecraft for NASA's Artemis program. The lunar lander may have windows and airlocks far away from the lunar surface, along with an elevator and a set of thrusters to land on the Moon's surface. The lunar lander may be able to carry a large amount of payload between outer space and the Moon. On an Artemis mission, it may launch ahead of the crew by up to a hundred days, accompanied with launches of refueling Starship tankers. Another variant of the lunar lander may be used for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, where scientific, exploration, and commercial payloads are tasked with being sent to the Moon.

Mission profile

A short animation of Super Heavy's landing on mechanical arms. The actual landing speed is a few times slower.

Before launch, Super Heavy and Starship are stacked onto a launch mount and loaded with propellant via quick disconnect arm and mount. For a launch, roughly four hundred truck deliveries are needed, though some commodities are provided on-site via an air separation unit.

Then, the arm and mount are detached, all thirty-three engines of Super Heavy fire, and the rocket lifts off. After two minutes, the stages separate by moving its firing engines and release the latches. The booster flips its orientation, activates its central engine cluster, and return to the launch site using a controlled descent and a landing burn. A pair of mechanical arms then catches the booster and place it onto the mount. Though catching Super Heavy requires great precision, this may reduce the turnaround time after landing and enable frequent launches. After six minutes in flight, about 20 t (44,000 lb) of propellant remains inside the booster.

Meanwhile, the Starship spacecraft accelerates to orbital velocity, then the spacecraft may be refueled by docking it with Starship tankers. For landing on bodies without an atmosphere such as the Moon, Starship turns on its engines and thrusters to slow down and land. For bodies with an atmosphere such as Earth and Mars, Starship slows down by entering the atmosphere and is protected by a heat shield. After atmospheric entry, Starship performs a belly flop maneuver that a white paper defines as the control of its surface area, leading to the control of aerodynamic drag and terminal velocity.

During landing, header tanks are used to feed the Raptor engines. A pseudospectral optimal control algorithm by the German Aerospace Center predicted the landing flip would cause Starship to overshoot the landing point by 100 m (300 ft). It also predicted the spacecraft would tilt to 20° from the ground's perpendicular line, and the angle would be reduced to zero on touchdown.

Applications and launches

Further information: List of SpaceX Starship launches

Starship would replace all functions of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which are launching satellites and crew to Earth orbit and other celestial bodies. It is hoped its reusability will reduce launch costs, expanding space access to more payloads and entities. Musk predicts Starship will cost less than $2 million for an orbital launch; however, multiple experts claim otherwise, citing the rocket's multi-billion-dollar development cost and its current lack of external demand. Pierre Lionnet, director of research at Eurospace, said launch cost may not play a key role in certain science payloads.

Commercial

Starship is intended to launch the next generation of SpaceX's Starlink communication satellites. A space analyst at financial services company Morgan Stanley said development of Starship and Starlink are intertwined with each other because improvements in launch capacity and cost reduction aid Starlink satellite launches, and Starlink profits can be fed into Starship development. A single orbital launch of Starship could place up to 400 Starlink v1.0 satellites into orbit; for comparison, Falcon 9 flights in 2019 and 2020 have launched a maximum of 60 satellites. With an increasing number of satellites, Waleed Abdalati, a former NASA Chief Scientist, said the rocket may enable the recovery of defunct artificial objects in space.

Although the United States military has not publicly announced any satellite launch contracts for Starship, the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy have been used to launch payloads for the United States Space Force and the Department of Defense. Due to the increasing size and complexity of military satellites, it is likely Starship will be used for future missions. As of January 2022, SpaceX was awarded a $102 million, five-year contract to develop the Rocket Cargo program to examine the modification of Starship rockets to carry about 90 tonnes (200,000 lb) of military cargo to anywhere in the world within an hour for tactical and humanitarian purposes.

The spacecraft can also be used for space tourism. A example is the dearMoon project announced by Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, which consists of a flight around the Moon aboard Starship with a crew consisting of Maezawa and eight others. Another example is the third flight of the Polaris program announced by Jared Issacman, Mission Commander of the Inspiration4 mission, which aimed to raise funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

In the future, Starship may host point-to-point flights, coined "Earth to Earth" by SpaceX, by traveling between spaceports on Earth. For example, a flight between New York City and Shanghai is estimated to take about 39 minutes. SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell predicted point-to-point travel could become cost-competitive with conventional business class flights. John Logsdon, an academic on space policy and history, said point-to-point travel would have a high acceleration, making it impractical for civilians.

Space exploration

Artemis 3 launch profile of a human landing on the Moon, involving Starship HLS, Starship tanker variants, and Orion spacecraft

Starship may be capable of launching large space telescopes such as the Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission and Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor that can directly image planets outside the Solar System. Some planetary science researchers are beginning to incorporate Starship into their project plans, citing its low cost and high launch capacity.

The rocket may enable large experiments and sample-return missions to the Moon and Mars that could be integrated into SpaceX's test landings of the spacecraft. The probes it sends can be larger and more complex than those launched by conventional means, providing benefits for scientific investigation. Such a mission may investigate problems in astronomy, such as past volcanism on the Moon and the possible existence of extraterrestrial life.

Starship's lunar lander variant, Starship HLS, is critical to the Artemis program, human exploration program of the Moon.

Space colonization

Further information: SpaceX Mars program

SpaceX has said its goal is to colonize Mars to ensure the long-term survival of the human species. Musk has been pursuing the goal since 2001 with the Mars Oasis program, in which a rocket would launch a greenhouse to Mars. The project's purpose was to stimulate the space market and increase NASA's budget.

Starship is aimed to be a fully operational, long-duration Mars spacecraft and able to send back crew to Earth. The final goal of the program is to send a million people to Mars by 2050 with 1,000 Starships sent during a Mars launch window. On Mars, the Sabatier reaction may be used to create liquid methane and liquid oxygen in a power-to-gas plant, fueling return missions. On Earth, similar technologies can be used to create carbon-neutral propellant for Starship.

In March 2022, a tweet by Musk predictted SpaceX may land the first humans on Mars before 2029. However, this goal is considered optimistic. In a 2019 report prepared by Science and Technology Policy Institute, a NASA Mars orbital mission in 2033 cannot be achieved without aggressive development. A more reasonable date for transit would be in 2037, though this won't mitigate the cost of $120 billion for constructing launch vehicles and ground equipment. SpaceX has not detailed plans for life-support systems, radiation protection, and in situ resource utilization, technologies which are essential for space colonization.

Facilities

See also: SpaceX facilities

Testing and manufacturing

A bay at Starbase build site, hosting construction of prototypes

Starbase consists of a manufacturing facility and launch site, and is located at Boca Chica, Texas. Both facilities operate for twenty-four hours a day, and a maximum of 450 full-time employees may be onsite. The site hosted the STARGATE facility of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. SpaceX uses part of the facility for Starship development, while university uses most of it for the study and research of space technologies. The site is planned to consist of two launch sites, one payload processing facility, one seven-acre solar farm, and parking lots. In March 2022, one of Starship SN8's flaps was placed on public display at Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport.

At McGregor, Texas, the Rocket Development facility tests all Raptor engines. The facility has two main test stands: one horizontal stand for both engine types and one vertical stand for sea-level-optimized rocket engines. Other test stands are used for checking Starship's reaction control thrusters and Merlin engines. In the past, the McGregor facility hosted test flights of landable first stages; Grasshopper and F9R Dev1. In the future, a nearby factory, which as of September 2021 was under construction, will make the new generation of sea-level Raptors while SpaceX's headquarters in California will continue building the Raptor Vacuum and test new designs.

As of February 2022, a facility at Cocoa, Florida, processes raw materials for heat-shield tiles. In the past, workers at this facility constructed the Starship Mk2 prototype in competition with Starbase's crews. The facility is planned to expand to have Falcon rocket booster hangars and a Starship launch sites. According to Musk, if Starbase had not passed its environmental review, the Cocoa facility would have became a primary launch site.

Launch sites

A launch site at Starbase, showing a tank farm and an integration tower in construction

Starbase is planned to host two launch sites; a launch site at Starbase has large facilities, such as a tank farm, launch pad, and an integration tower. Smaller facilities are present at the launch site: tanks surrounding the area contain methane, oxygen, nitrogen, helium, hydraulic fluid, etc.; subcoolers near the tank farm cool propellant using liquid nitrogen; and various pipes are installed at large facilities.

Each tank farm consists of eight tanks – three for liquid oxygen, two for liquid methane, two for liquid nitrogen, and one for water – enough for one orbital launch. The launch pad has a water sound suppression system, twenty clamps that hold down the booster, and a quick disconnect mount that provides the rocket with commodities and electricity. An integration tower or launch tower consists of steel truss sections, a lightning rod on top, and a pair of mechanical arms that can lift, catch and recover the booster. The tower are also mounted with a quick disconnect arm that can extend to and contract from the booster; its functions are similar to the quick disconnect mount.

Other launch sites are in construction or being planned. Phobos and Deimos are the names of two Starship offshore launch platforms, both of which were in renovation as of March 2022. Before being purchased from Valaris plc in June 2020, they were nearly-identical oil platforms named Valaris 8501 and Valaris 8500, their main decks are 78 m (260 ft) long by 73 m (240 ft) wide; their four columns are 15 m (49 ft) long and 14 m (46 ft) wide; and their helicopter decks are 22 m (72 ft) in diameter. In February 2022, Musk stated Phobos and Deimos are not yet in SpaceX's focus but he predicted most launches would start from offshore platforms in the far future.

As of December 2021, Kennedy Space Center is considering to have Starship launch pads at Launch Complexes 39A and 49. Launch Complex 39A had hosted Space Shuttle launches and Launch Complex 49 has been in the construction plan since 2014. If NASA approves these spaceports, SpaceX will build them north of Launch Complex 39B and need room inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, which has four high bays—three of which are reserved for the Space Launch System—and NASA can lease the remaining bay for the indoor preparation of Starship.

External links

• Official website