SpaceX Founder and CEO Elon Musk recently required to Twitter and hinted that the much-anticipated Starship– currently undergoing upgrades in preparation for its upcoming first flight– might introduce as quickly as November.
Reacting to a question from a curious Twitter account inquiring about updates for Starships orbital flight date, Musk reacted, “Late next month perhaps, however November seems extremely likely. We will have two boosters & & ships prepared for orbital flight by then, with full stack production at roughly one every 2 months.” As usual, his tweet amassed thousands of likes and numerous retweets.
This comes just two days after Musk tweeted a 12-second video with the caption “7 engine fixed fire” showing a fixed and partially-assembled Starship firing its engines and kicking up clouds of sand and dust that enveloped the booster within seconds. He followed this tweet with a 2nd one saying “Great for clearing dust!”
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Responding to a concern from a curious Twitter account asking about updates for Starships orbital flight date, Musk reacted, “Late next month possibly, but November appears extremely most likely. SpaceX specifies on its website that Starships payload capacity to low Earth orbit will be over 100 tons, which is nearly as much as the Saturn V (130 heaps).
For now, Starship is still being tinkered with in Boca Chica as we await main word as to when it will have its maiden flight. Will Starship have an effective launch on its very first effort, and will it eventually be the ship to take humanity to Mars and beyond?
As mentioned, Musk wishes to make humankind a multiplanetary types, particularly on Mars, and he wishes to use Starship to achieve this goal. He came one action closer to this reality when his groups built a fully stacked Starship in Boca Chica, Texas in July 2021. When totally assembled, Starship is taller than any rocket ever built, exceeding the height of the Saturn V by 10 meters (33 feet), and is expected to produce more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V at nearly 7.7 million kilograms (17 million pounds) of force. SpaceX states on its site that Starships payload capability to low Earth orbit will be over 100 heaps, which is almost as much as the Saturn V (130 tons).
Musk has a long-standing track record of being open and very active on his Twitter account regarding his aspirations for making humanity a multiplanetary species someday. On August 31, he said through his Twitter account that SpaceX is “going for up to 100 flights next year”, even as his personal launch company has actually already released a record-shattering 42 times in 2022 and is preparing for its 43rd launch this weekend. For context, SpaceX had 31 successful launches in 2021.
For now, Starship is still being tinkered with in Boca Chica as we await official word as to when it will have its maiden flight. Will Starship have a successful launch on its very first attempt, and will it ultimately be the ship to take humankind to Mars and beyond? Only time will inform, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & & keep searching for!
Featured Image: SpaceXs Starship performing a fixed fire of its very first phase at Boca Chica, Texas, in September 2022. (Credit: SpaceX).
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