Elon Musk unveils new Mars rocket prototype, expects missions in months

By Joey Roulette

 

A prototype of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft is seen before SpaceX's Elon Musk gives an update on the company's Mars rocket Starship in Boca Chica, Texas U.S. September 28, 2019. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare

 

(Reuters) - Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has unveiled the latest iteration of his space company's newly assembled Starship, outlining a speedy development timeline for the centerpiece vehicle of SpaceX’s quest to launch humans to the moon and Mars.

 

Musk showed a crowd of space enthusiasts and reporters at SpaceX’s rocket development site late on Saturday in the remote village of Boca Chica, Texas, animations of Starship landing on the moon and Mars and predicted that the rocket's first orbital flight could come in the next six months, followed by missions to space with humans aboard the next year.

 

"This is basically the holy grail of space," Musk said, standing between a towering, newly assembled Starship rocket and Falcon 1 — the company's first vehicle whose debut orbital mission was celebrated by SpaceX 11 years ago.

 

"The critical breakthrough that’s needed for us to become a space-faring civilization is to make space travel like air travel," said Musk, who is also the chief executive of electric carmaker Tesla Inc <TSLA.O>.

 

A prototype of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft is seen before SpaceX's Elon Musk gives an update on the company's Mars rocket Starship in Boca Chica, Texas U.S. September 28, 2019. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare

 

Starship, a shiny steel rocketship designed to ferry dozens of humans to the moon and Mars, is the top half of Musk’s colossal interplanetary rocket system that stands 387 feet tall (118 meters) as the latest addition to SpaceX’s lineup of reusable launch vehicles. Musk named Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as Starship’s first private passenger in 2018.

 

The Boca Chica village, a few miles north of the Mexican border, is ground zero for SpaceX’s three-year experimental test program for Starship, whose rocket engine tests have rattled the nerves of residents living in a remote hamlet of roughly two dozen homes a mile away.

 

"I think the actual danger to the Boca Chica village is low but it's not tiny,” Musk said during a question and answer session. “So probably over time it’d be better to buy out the villages, and we’ve made an offer to that effect.”

 

Some residents have rejected SpaceX’s non-negotiable offer to buyout their homes for three times the market value.

 

A three-legged prototype of the rocket named Starhopper has test launched in the village twice since July, most recently flying as high as 500 feet (152 meters) and landing on an adjacent slab of concrete to trial Musk’s next generation rocket engine dubbed Raptor.

 

Musk’s mission to the moon aligns with NASA’s goal of sending humans there by 2024 under its Artemis program, an accelerated deep-space initiative spurred by the Trump administration in March that aims to work with a handful of U.S. space companies in building a long-term presence on the lunar surface before eventually colonizing Mars.

 

The space agency has tapped SpaceX to figure out how to land vehicles on the lunar surface and help develop a system for refueling rockets — like Starship — in space, an “important technology to aid sustained exploration efforts on the Moon and Mars,” NASA said in a release on Friday.

 

NASA has awarded SpaceX and Boeing Co <BA.N> a total of $6.8 billion to build competing rocket and capsule systems to launch astronauts into orbit from American soil for the first time since 2011. Development of both astronaut capsules have been beset by delays and testing mishaps.

 

“I am looking forward to the SpaceX announcement tomorrow. In the meantime, Commercial Crew is years behind schedule,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a Friday night statement. “NASA expects to see the same level of enthusiasm focused on the investments of the American taxpayer. It’s time to deliver.”

 

(Reporting by Joey Roulette in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-09-30

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That's an expensive suppository ????

a space <deleted>

 I know a lot a guys on here hate Elon after the cave thing. But I am fascinating with what he is doing and I always enjoy seeing what is next for spacex.

That is a cool freaking rocket. Great stuff

I have seen scale models of this available at a night market stall on Sukhumvit road but they were pink colored.

 

Edited September 30, 20196 yr by PatOngo

14 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

 I know a lot a guys on here hate Elon after the cave thing. But I am fascinating with what he is doing and I always enjoy seeing what is next for spacex.

That is a cool freaking rocket. Great stuff

+1

 

I have been fascinated by the guy for years, and anyone who manages to amass a fortune of over 20 billion dollars is someone to be reckoned with. PayPal and Tesla deserve their own posts, but i'll leave that for another time.

 

We have already seen successful missions to space, to refuel/restock the Space Station, to create re-usable rockets and to launch his car into orbit (Waaaaaaay Cool!).

 

Government(s) will always play a role, but if humanity is ever going to reach for the stars, then it is going to be entrepreneurs like Elon who are going to lead the way.

 

Go Elon Go!

 

 

Edited September 29, 20196 yr by Samui Bodoh

40 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

a space <deleted>

a space vibrator (can't use the "d" word)

Way cool! Musk just had to have a shiny stainless steel rocket.  Another first. But not only is it hard to make smooth and wrinkle free, it will be very hard to cool on fiery re-entry. How on Earth will he do it?

 

Instead of relying on thousands of heavy ceramic tiles to shield Starship from heat, as NASA did with its space shuttle, Musk says the spaceship will "bleed" rocket fuel through tiny pores to cool itself down. In theory, putting liquid between Starship's steel skin and the scorching-hot plasma generated while it plows through atmospheric gases would prevent the ship's destruction.  https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-bleeding-transpirational-atmospheric-reentry-system-challenges-2019-2

 

In other words, self lubrication as it enters Earth's hot atmosphere.

 

Edited September 30, 20196 yr by rabas

Humans no longer know what to do to destroy the planet, then the rich are spoiled children who accelerate their destruction with their money!
Congratulations Elon, your fame hunger is insatiable!

Very similar design, almost a direct copy..... 

 

3 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

a space <deleted>

I agree.  And his rocket is just as bad.

3 hours ago, rabas said:

Way cool! Musk just had to have a shiny stainless steel rocket.  Another first. But not only is it hard to make smooth and wrinkle free, it will be very hard to cool on fiery re-entry. How on Earth will he do it?

 

Instead of relying on thousands of heavy ceramic tiles to shield Starship from heat, as NASA did with its space shuttle, Musk says the spaceship will "bleed" rocket fuel through tiny pores to cool itself down. In theory, putting liquid between Starship's steel skin and the scorching-hot plasma generated while it plows through atmospheric gases would prevent the ship's destruction.  https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-bleeding-transpirational-atmospheric-reentry-system-challenges-2019-2

 

In other words, self lubrication as it enters Earth's hot atmosphere.

 

OK - I didn't major in physics - but is it wise to use flammable liquid as a coolant?

1 hour ago, pedro01 said:

OK - I didn't major in physics - but is it wise to use flammable liquid as a coolant?

Rocket fuel, in this case mainly liquid oxygen is very cold and the wind pressure is extraordinary. Any combustion would occur behind the rocket

Edited September 30, 20196 yr by canuckamuck

1 hour ago, pedro01 said:

OK - I didn't major in physics - but is it wise to use flammable liquid as a coolant?

It doesn't matter.

SpaceX Switching to Thin Tile Heat Shield Instead of Active Cooling

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2019/07/spacex-switching-to-thin-tile-heat-shield-instead-of-active-cooling.html

Dislike Musk, but wishing him all possible success.

I have total respect for Elon and only if their were others like him

I'm staying right here on Mother Earth with a beer in one hand and med ganja in the other. But yeah, way cool.

It looks like a penis, you probably have a problem with the size of your ... Elon!

I hope this rocket is a 100 percent success. Good Luck!

Geezer

Lets hope its more successful than his 'underground loop' which was widely derided for being a failure.

On 9/30/2019 at 12:25 AM, kotsak said:

That's an expensive suppository ????

and he can shove it up his ...