September 15, 2020
SpaceX Starship completes Test to The Stars successfully
SpaceX Starship has been the dreamchild of SpaceX and Elon Musk as it prepares to revolutionise the space flight industry with making interplanetary travel to Mars possible as well as plans for hypersonic travel on Earth. Since its announcement back in 2012, it has undergone several remodelling moves but now finally has achieved its final appearance with prototype tests underway showing immense potential for success.
With SpaceX planning to launch cargo missions through Starship by 2021, they are on a tight time leash and working hard to ensure its appearance on the launchpad by next year. With the final remodel in 2019 which settled at six raptor engines of which 3 are optimised for sea level and 3 for the vacuum of space with a stainless-steel body rather than carbon fibre, things are moving fast on the testing and final manufacturing process. With two prototypes under test and a final body under manufacturing (Starship Mk1) it's surely an exhilarating time to witness the new era of travel on earth and space.
Starship testing too has proved to be very successful in reliability. Short hops were the initial testing operations of 30 ft flights and landing safely. After those were completed, the high-altitude flight tests started. The main aim was to test the vehicles in sub orbital flight conditions. The flights ranged from 100-300 ft. These sub orbital flight tests were started in 2019 and the highest test altitude ranged to 500 ft. The engines performed wonderfully with a controlled landing around a 100 mts away from the launch site. Since august 2019 these tests have helped finalise the body of the ship for cargo flight operations soon. The latest test was conducted on 4th of September 2020 as the Starship prototype body rose above the south Texas skyline and landed successfully as required.
With the final fuselage taking shape, the only thing standing in the way of the largest spacecraft ever built are regulatory approvals and final safety tests. SpaceX has lots of plans in store for the Starship which range from interplanetary travel to Mars, hypersonic space travel around earth as well as a commercial suborbital flight service connecting major cities around the world at hypersonic speeds. Musk is also planning to enrol the vehicle for cargo and manned transportation for NASA’s upcoming Artemis programme to return to the moon by 2024-2030.
Starship also is the peak of SpaceX’s reusable spaceflight vehicle idea with over 90% of the vessel reusable and recoverable after launch and completion of mission. Space tourism is also being eyed by SpaceX as a revenue generator in the near future and their Starship is also a viable means for the same. For deep space missions however Starship will need an initial booster to lift it off sea level. That is being termed by SpaceX as the ‘Super Heavy’ that also has been developed and tested on the lines of the successful Falcon Heavy Rocket, waiting for its alter ego, the Starship for their flight to the stars.
In 2019 the company also announced the cost per launch of the Starship to be as low as 2 million per launch once the robust control management is put in place, comparing that to the space shuttle programme each mission cost over 450 million dollars with meagre reusability! With a high flight rate and associated commercial usage Musk has given credible estimates that it could reach the 800k range per flight. With SpaceX’s cargo supply missions to the ISS the Starship will be well seasoned as a flight vehicle before it takes humans to space, which surely would be a sight to behold!
