What is Starship
Starship is a rocket developed by SpaceX, which consists of a booster called Super Heavy and the Starship spacecraft. The aim of this rocketis the transportation of cargo and crew to Earth orbit, but more importantly to the surface of Moon and later Mars. Starship has been in development since 2019, with many Starship prototypes already tested – from Starhopper, the first prototype, to SN15’s successful flight just four months ago. The following infographic highlights the Starship’s current development state at the time of writing (credit goes to Brendan Lewis):
What makes this rocket special?
The main selling point of this rocket is its full-reusability, which has not yet been demonstrated by any company (at least not on the scale of an orbital rocket). Reusability, namely, is very important for reducing the cost of a rocket launch, since the rocket itself represents most of the cost of a rocket launch (fuel is very cheap when compared to the rocket itself). Additionally Starship will be the largest rocket ever built, surpassing even the mighty Saturn V, the rocket which took humans to the Moon. Yet, despite of its size, it might become the cheapest launch vehicle available on the market when it become operational precisely due to its full-reusability and at the same time pave the way for humanity to (re)visit Moon and someday even Mars.
I want to know more!
Following this post I will be regularly writing about Starship’s progress, but for those eager of knowledge… If you are interested in Starship and SpaceX as well as space in general I would recommend you to check out the following sites and YouTube channels that provide excellent content and coverage of space news:
- SpaceX’s website and SpaceX’s YouTube channel,
- NASA’s website and NASA’s YouTube channel,
- Everyday Astronaut, who provides excellent coverage of (mainly) rocket launches, as well as often publishes excellent videos about space, rockets, space exploration etc.,
- and more excellent space related YouTube channels such as: Scott Manley, Marcus House, spaceXcentric, ErcX Space, NASASpaceflight and many more.
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