Over the last 18 years, SpaceX has cut the cost of space access dramatically, forcing competitors to reluctantly follow its lead, but it is with the new Starship and Super Heavy that SpaceX could revolutionise space travel.
Elon Musk’s overarching goal with SpaceX is to establish a self-sustaining city on Mars and make life multi-planetary. The biggest obstacle to this is space transport; the Falcon 9 was designed from a clean sheet to prove the technology and build SpaceX as a business that could reach for Mars. SpaceX focused on fast, simplified manufacturing and operations to bring costs down, but probably its biggest innovation so far was realising reusability could be achieved with conventional two-stage rockets.
As the design has evolved, Falcon 9 has become more capable, but a bigger vehicle was always going to be required to reach the Red Planet. After running through a number of concepts and names – Falcon XX, Mars Colonial Transporter, Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), Interplanetary Transport System – that vehicle has become the Starship reusable spacecraft and Super Heavy reusable first stage.
Space enthusiasts have been following the slow build-up at Boca Chica, but Starship flights have broken out into the broader world, capturing attention in a way reminiscent of the early Space Race. While not as spectacular as the launches themselves, SpaceX’s next great innovation shows in the rate new test vehicles arrive, with Starships SN1 to SN9 tested over roughly 12 months.
This story is from the Issue 114 edition of All About Space.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Issue 114 edition of All About Space.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
"We knew that this would be a historic comet"
Astronomer David Levy was immortalised for his co-discovery of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 – its impact with Jupiter 29 years ago held the world in awe
CELESTRON STARSENSE EXPLORER DX 102AZ
Innovative technology provides the simplest and quickest solution yet to finding objects to observe, and this instrument will be very popular with beginners
MOON TOUR - COPERNICUS
Get up close to the ‘Monarch of the Moon’
A HUNGRY BLACK HOLE 'SWITCHES ON' AS ASTRONOMERS WATCH IN SURPRISE
J221951 is one of the most extreme examples yet
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE - WHY DOES JUPITER CHANGE COLOUR?
For years, scientists have tried to work out why Jupiter’s bands frequently move and change colour. Now they believe they’ve found the answer
MARS HELICOPTER PHONES HOME AFTER A 63-DAY SILENCE
Rugged terrain had kept Ingenuity from communicating with its robotic partner, the Perseverance rover
SIX OF THE BEST SPACE PRANKS
It turns out that the sky isn’t the limit when it comes to a good old-fashioned practical joke
CLIMATES CHANGE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Alongside Earth, our planetary neighbourhood is changing. But not for the better…
TIME APPEARED TO MOVE FIVE TIMES SLOWER IN THE FIRST BILLION YEARS AFTER THE BIG BANG
Time dilation, brought about by the relativistic expansion of space, has resulted in the observed slowing of ‘clocks’ in the early universe
WHAT CAN WE DO WITH A CAPTURED ASTEROID?
Asteroids could provide us with rare resources