SpaceX Starship

Starship is a fully reusable launch vehicle in development by American aerospace company SpaceX for the ultimate purpose of Mars exploration. The launch vehicle consists of a reusable stainless-steel Super Heavy booster and a Starship spacecraft, designed to hold liquid oxygen and liquid methane used by Raptor rocket engines. It is the tallest rocket ever built, taller than the Saturn V and the Space Launch System by 9 m (30 ft).

This article is about an in-development launch vehicle. For other uses, see Starship (disambiguation).

Starship
super heavy-lift reusable launch vehicle built by SpaceX
Starship spacecraft SN16 and Super Heavy booster BN4
Has use
Manufacturer
Country of origin
  • United States 
Size
Height
  • 120 metre
  • 400 foot 
Diameter
  • 9 metre
  • 30 foot 
Stages
Launch history
Status
  • Under construction 
Launch sites
Capacity
Payload to low Earth orbit
Altitude
  • 500 kilometre
  • 310 mile 
Orbital inclination98.9 degree 
Mass
  • 100 tonne
  • 220,000 pound 
Volume
  • 1,100 cubic metre
  • 39,000 cubic foot 
Payload to geostationary transfer orbit
Altitude
  • Unknown 
Orbital inclinationUnknown 
Mass
  • 100 tonne
  • 220,000 pound 
Volume
  • 1,100 cubic metre
  • 39,000 cubic foot 
Payload to Moon
Mass
  • 100 tonne
  • 220,000 pound 
Volume
  • 1,100 cubic metre
  • 39,000 cubic foot 
Payload to Mars
Mass
  • 100 tonne
  • 220,000 pound 
Volume
  • 1,100 cubic metre
  • 39,000 cubic foot 
Stages information
First stage – Super Heavy
Height
  • 70 metre
  • 230 foot 
Diameter
  • 9 metre
  • 30 foot 
Powered by
Propellant
Second stage – Starship
Height
  • 50 metre 
Diameter
  • 9 metre 
Powered by
Propellant

Starship's large mass and volume capacity to space and full reusability should make it both cost-competitive and able to serve many facets of spaceflight, including interplanetary spaceflight, space tourism, and fast point-to-point flights on Earth. With these capabilities, the rocket is incorporated into many space programs, such as the dearMoon project, NASA's Artemis program, and SpaceX's Mars program.

Starship was called the Mars Colonial Transporter, Interplanetary Transport System, and Big Falcon Rocket, each with substantially different designs. On 25 July 2019, Starhopper performed the first successful flight by any Starship prototype at the SpaceX South Texas launch site. The first complete Starship prototype was SN8, which crashed upon landing on 9 December 2020. On 5 May 2021, SN15 flew the same flight path as previous prototypes and soft-landed successfully. As of October 2021, Super Heavy BN4 and Starship SN20 are expected to become first prototypes to attempt reaching orbital velocity.

Background
Part of a series on SpaceX's
Starship
Super Heavy & Starship
History
  • Mars Colonial Transporter
  • Interplanetary Transport System
  • Big Falcon Rocket
  • Starship prototypes
Variants
Infrastructure
Raptor rocket engines
Premises

Although a large-scale, self-sufficient, and developed space economy is the industry's aim, the cost of accessing space has been a barrier to achieving it.[1] Little market competition emerged inside any national market, and within the United States high cost and preference to existing contractors made it difficult for commercial launch service providers to compete.[2] However, many measures of cost reduction had been implemented by various agencies and companies with varying success. One example is the development of small-lift launch vehicles, which the United States Air Force expected the launch cost to be less than ten million United States dollars.[3]

In the early 2010s, private spaceflight emerged and brought substantial competition into the existing market[1] with notable space vehicles for that sector including Falcon 9, Electron, and LauncherOne.[4] Also at that time, there have been numerous concepts and proposals for a human mission to Mars. However, none of them made it into technology development phase.[5]

Since at least 2009, SpaceX recovered the first stages of several early Falcon 9 flights to assist with the development of the reusable rocket stage. Initially, both stages were equipped with parachutes, but the mechanism failed to survive the extreme heat during atmospheric re-entry.[6] By late 2012, SpaceX abandoned parachute recovery, using the first stage's engines to propulsively land and abandoned reusing Falcon 9's second stage. The company then build Grasshopper, a technology demonstrator for first stage landing.[7] Technology developed for second stage reuse were instead transferred to Starship's development.[8]

Current design

The goal of Starship is to be a fully reusable orbital launch and reentry vehicle.[9] It is 120 m (390 ft) high and has a 9 m (30 ft) diameter,[10] taller than the Saturn V by 9 m (30 ft).[11] Starship consists of two stages: a Super Heavy booster and a Starship spacecraft;[12] both have a body made from SAE 304L stainless steel.[13] Starship and Super Heavy are also powered by Raptor and Raptor Vacuum engines, consuming liquid oxygen and methane.[14] Since SpaceX develops Starship via operational testing, meaning flying prototypes directly instead of testing each component, its design can change rapidly.[15]

A Starship launch can deliver more than 100 t (220,000 lb) of cargo and crew to low Earth orbit, and it can also send the same amount of payload to higher Earth, Moon, Mars, and other orbits after the spacecraft is refueled by tanker Starships.[16][17] The launch vehicle can be used to launch almost any space payload, instead of being specialized for only one facet of spaceflight.[18]

Raptor engine
Main article: SpaceX Raptor
A sea-level optimized Raptor at SpaceX's headquarter at Hawthorne

Both Starship's stages are equipped with Raptor engines, full-flow staged combustion cycle rocket engines consuming liquid methane and liquid oxygen.[14] Methane is chosen as Starship's propellant because it is cheaper, burns more cleanly, and can be produced on Mars via in-situ resource utilization.[19] In an interview with Tim Dodd, Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO and chief engineer, stated that all Raptor engines would combust liquid oxygen and liquid methane in a ratio of 3.5 to 3.7, which is slightly less than the stoichiometric ratio. Matching the ratio between methane with oxygen molecules perfectly would generate extreme heat and melt the engines.[20] All Raptor engines should be able to fire many times, possibly up to a thousand each, late into manufacturing phase.[19]

For the Raptor Vacuum variant, it is equipped with a nozzle extension with a throat to exit area of 1 to 80 to increase Raptor's specific impulse in space to about 380 s (3.73 km/s). Later Starships might be equipped with an improved version of Raptor called Raptor 2, which feature increased thrust and slightly decreased specific impulse. In the same interview, Musk also mentioned that most of the Raptor 2 variant will be produced in a new SpaceX facility in McGregor, while SpaceX's factory at Hawthorne would be used to produce Raptor Vacuum and test new engine designs.[20]

The Raptor engine is the only operational full-flow staged combustion cycle engine: the Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator and RD-270 have the same power cycle, but never made into any operational vehicle.[19] A general full-flow staged combustion cycle engine has two preburners connected to their pair of turbopumps. Each is fed either with a mixture containing mostly liquid oxygen or a mixture containing mostly liquid methane. Unlike other engines, the engine combusts all propellant inside the preburner and provide engine turbines with more thrust and efficiency.[21]

Super Heavy booster

The Super Heavy booster measures 70 m (230 ft) tall[10] and may house up to thirty-three sea-level optimized Raptor engines.[22] Its tanks can hold about 3,600 t (7,900,000 lb) of propellant, consisting of about 2,800 t (6,200,000 lb) of liquid oxygen and 800 t (1,800,000 lb) of liquid methane. Without propellant, Super Heavy's mass ranges from 160 t (350,000 lb) to 200 t (440,000 lb).[20] Each booster can generate about twice the thrust of the S-IC, Saturn V's first stage.[22]

Four grid fins are installed above Super Heavy and controlled by electric motors via batteries. They are used to control Super Heavy's descent[20] and touchdown into a launch tower's pair of mechanical arms.[23] These grid fins are not spaced out evenly. Instead, they are positioned closer to make changing the booster's pitch easier. They will not retract during launch: Musk cited complexity, mass increase, and insignificant drag for the rationale. The booster would use evaporated gas from the tanks' ullage, empty volume, to control the booster's orientation and position, as well as exploit the Coriolis effect to separate from the spacecraft.[20]

Starship spacecraft
External pipes and hoses on Starship SN16

The Starship spacecraft is attached to the top of the Super Heavy booster and is 50 m (160 ft) tall,[10] and the closest estimate of Starship's dry mass by Musk, is less than 100 t (220,000 lb).[20] The spacecraft is expected to hold 1,200 t (2,600,000 lb) of propellant[10] split into two main and two header tanks, each containing either liquid oxygen or liquid methane. The liquid methane header tank is placed in the middle of the two main tanks, while the liquid oxygen header tank is mounted at the nosecone. These header tanks are used to store propellant for landing the spacecraft using its engines with high accuracy.[24]

Six Raptor engines are mounted on its bottom. Three are optimized for operating in the atmosphere, and the other three optimized for vacuum operation called Raptor Vacuum.[25] It also has four body flaps to control the vehicle's falling velocity and orientation. Two are mounted at the nose cone and called aft flaps and the other two are mounted near the bottom and called forward flaps.[26] Starship's heat shield is made from many black tiles with some room to accommodate thermal expansion. They are mostly shaped into hexagons and mounted directly to the spacecraft. As well as being durable, they are able to enter the atmosphere multiple times. The spacecraft does not have a launch escape system as Starship should be reliable by the time it has humans on board.[20] Starship is expected to have 1,100 m3 (39,000 cu ft) of storage volume, far larger than any spacecraft ever built.[16]

SpaceX plans to build multiple Starship variants. For the cargo variant, a large door replaces conventional payload fairings, which can capture, store, and return payload and space debris to Earth. The payload door is closed during launch, opens to release payload once in orbit, then closes again during reentry. Another variant is called Starship tanker, which can fuel other Starships to increase the spacecraft's delta-v budget or range reaching Mars.[27] In 2019, SpaceX is partnering with NASA to further develop in-orbit cryogenic propellant fueling technologies.[28]

Starship HLS, another variant of Starship, will serve as a crewed lunar lander for NASA's Artemis program and be accompanied by Starship tankers and Starship propellant depot variants. By having Starship tankers transferring propellant to the Starship depot, the lunar lander only need one fueling session before heading toward the Moon.[29] Starship HLS will not have flaps and a heat shield and will not use the Raptor engines to directly land. Instead, a smaller set of landing thrusters will be equipped to the lunar lander. The vehicle will have significantly higher cargo capacity than other Artemis HLS alternatives, so an elevator will be used to transport cargo and astronauts to the lunar surface.[30]

Mission profile

Both stages would separate when they exploit the Coriolis effect.[20]


After atmospheric entry, Starship's body keeps facing windward and performs a belly flop maneuver. The maneuver manipulates the vehicle's wetted area by changing its flaps and body orientation, thereby changing amount of aerodynamic drag exerted and its terminal velocity.[31] A thesis analyzed that the belly flop maneuver can reduce the g-force exerted to astronauts and spent propellant.[24]

When the landing flip is performed, an pseudospectral optimal control tool predicted that Starship would overshoot the landing pad by about 100 m (300 ft). Therefore, the spacecraft intentionally tilts 20° further from the ground's normal line to guide itself back, as well as reducing its tilt to none upon touchdown. The result also predicted that the Raptor engines' throttle peaked to about ninety percent at five seconds after the flip and shortly before touchdown.[31] During landing, only Starship's header tanks is used, primarily because propellant at main tanks cannot be pumped while in the belly flop position. Even if that problem is addressed, having only the main tanks would still be impractical due to propellant slosh, pressurization and insulation.[24]

Operation

Ground infrastructure
Starship prototypes in construction at the build site
Starship launch tower

Starship may launch from Starbase, SpaceX's offshore platforms, and the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A.[32] Starbase, in Boca Chica, Texas, is the primary development and launch site of the vehicle.[33] The offshore platforms—named Phobos and Deimos after the moons of Mars—were former oil drilling rigs owned by Valaris,[34] each 78 m (260 ft) long and 73 m (240 ft) wide.[35] Launch Complex 39A had supported many Saturn V and Space Shuttle launches,[36] and is now being used by SpaceX to launch Falcon 9 rockets. A separate Starship launch pad as of December 2021 is being constructed next to the old launch pad, permission for which was granted in 2019 by NASA.[37]

Starbase is divided into a build site and launch site.[38]

The tank farm at Starbase holds water and other liquids.[39] A Starship launch tower consists of steel truss sections and a lightning rod on top,[40] with a pair of mechanical arms catching Super Heavy. Eventually, this recovery system might enable these rocket stages to be prepared quickly and allow multiple launches in a day.[41]

These infrastructure are the subject of many spaceflight news correspondents and enthusiasts.[42] However, some residents of Boca Chica Village and Brownsville have criticized Starship development claiming that SpaceX had conducted unauthorized test flights along with infrastructure construction, the forced sale of houses, and noise pollution.[43][44] Environmental groups claim that the Starship development program threatens surrounding wildlife.[45]

Economics and missions

Starship launch cost estimates vary widely, ranging from Musk's $2 million per launch to a satellite market analyst's $10 million.[46] It is expected that with a larger volume and mass capacity as well as a substantially lower cost to orbit, Starship may allow larger and more advanced science payloads such as 8 m (26.2 ft) or 15.1 m (49.5 ft)-diameter mirror variants of the Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared Surveyor space telescope.[47] Another example are Starlink satellites: although Falcon 9 launch can deliver sixty to low Earth orbit,[32] Starship would be able to put four hundred of them into orbit at the same time.[48] As the launch vehicle becomes more capable and less expensive to launch, it will replace all SpaceX's existing launch vehicles and spacecraft, including Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon 2.[49]

On 16 April 2021, NASA selected Starship HLS and awarded SpaceX a $2.89 billion contract over the Integrated Lander Vehicle and Dynetics HLS for the Artemis program.[50][51] Starship HLS will need to perform an uncrewed landing demonstration before it could do a crewed lunar landing on the Artemis 3 flight.[52] Responding to that announcement, on 26 April 2021 Blue Origin filed a protest to the Government Accountability Office.[53][54] On 4 November 2021, the Court of Federal Claims gave a memorandum opinion titled Blue Origin v. United States & Space Exploration Technologies Corp. rejecting Blue Origin's complaint.[55]

Starship is also expected to facilitate space tourism. A space mission named the dearMoon project has been planned by Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa.[56] Originally using a Crew Dragon capsule,[57] the dearMoon project plans to perform a flight around the Moon with Starship. The mission's crew is expected to consist of Maezawa and eight others from the public.[58]

Another potential use for Starship is point-to-point flights, or termed Earth to Earth by SpaceX. The spacecraft would travel between spaceports on Earth, with flight times of some 40 minutes between New York City and Shanghai. SpaceX president and chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, predicted that it could be cost-competitive with business class travel.[59] As of October 2020, the Rocket Cargo program is the only dedicated program that research this mode of transport, funded by the United States Transportation Command.[60][61] A space analyst highlighted risks involved in point-to-point spacecraft travel such as conflict escalation due to misunderstanding between allies.[62]

Space colonization
Main article: SpaceX Mars program
Illustration of the Mars terraforming at various stages

SpaceX has stated that its goal is to start the colonization and terraforming of Mars through its launch vehicles for humanity's long-term survival.[63] Musk had estimated that a Mars city containing a million people would be self-sustaining. Excluding population growth, at least ten thousand crewed Starships and a hundred thousand Starships delivering cargo would be needed.[64]

Starship might use the Sabatier reaction to create liquid methane and liquid oxygen on Mars[65] by exposing carbon dioxide and hydrogen to a catalyst and temperature conditions of 300–400 °C (600–800 °F) and pressure conditions of 3 MPa (400 psi).[66] Carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas can be obtained from Mars's atmosphere and underground ice.[67][68] The chemical reaction is an endothermic reaction with the chemical formula below:[66]

CO2 (g) + 4 H2 (g) → CH4 (g) + 2 H2O (g) (ΔHr = −165.0 kJ/mol)

Development
For the main article, see SpaceX Starship development. For a list of test articles flights, see List of SpaceX Starship launches.

Starship development has been described as iterative and incremental and often contrasted against Blue Origin's New Glenn[69] and the Space Launch System's development.[70] Because of this design methodology, SpaceX has built and launched many Starship prototypes to collect vast amounts of data and refine its design, similar to the Falcon 9's development.[20] The vehicle's design has also influenced other launch vehicles, such as the Terran R's and Project Jarvis' reusability and stainless-steel construction.[71][72]

SpaceX's development had led to many prototypes' explosion, disrupting the surrounding environment along with residential areas[45] and now being subjected to Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) environmental assessment.[73] Musk specifically often announces over-optimistic development timelines and pressures his employees to achieve them.[74]

Early conceptual designs
Illustration by SpaceX of early carbon-composite Starship design in flight

In November 2005, SpaceX first referenced a launch vehicle concept with Starship's capabilities during a student conference where Musk briefly mentioned a theoretical heavy‑lift launch vehicle code named BFR. It was going to be powered by a larger version of the Merlin engine called the Merlin 2.[75] At least from 2012, SpaceX has thought about building another space vehicle called the Mars Colonial Transporter, but little information was given to the public.[76]

In September 2016 at the 67th International Astronautical Congress, Musk announced the Interplanetary Transport System,[77] as well as provided key information about it to the public.[78] The Interplanetary Transport System was to be 122 m (400 ft) tall, 12 m (39 ft) wide, and conceived to be a fully reusable launch vehicle that could launch humans to Mars and other destinations in the Solar System. Both stages were to be made from carbon composites. The first stage or booster was to be powered by 42 Raptor engines, and the second stage or spacecraft named Interplanetary Spaceship was to be powered by nine Raptor engines. These Raptor engines were to be used not only for launching it into orbit, but also to enable these rocket stages to propulsively land on the surface. The second stage was going to have a heat shield made of phenolic-impregnated carbon ablator to protect itself when reentering the atmosphere. In orbit, Starship could be fueled to reach further destinations in the Solar System.[78][79]

At the following International Astronautical Congress, Musk announced a replacement launch vehicle called the Big Falcon Rocket, informally called the Big Fucking Rocket. The Big Falcon Rocket was revised to be 106 m (348 ft) tall and 9 m (30 ft) wide, with three aft flaps and two forward flaps to control its descent.[80] In that conference, he talked about possible functions of the launch vehicle extensively.

In November 2018, the present names of the launch vehicle and stage were first published: Super Heavy for the booster, Starship for the spacecraft, and Starship for the whole vehicle.[12] In January 2019, Musk announced that Starship would be made from stainless steel and stated that this might be stronger than an equivalent carbon composite in a wide range of temperatures.[81] In the same month, SpaceX announced it would lay off ten percent of its workforce to finance Starship and Starlink projects.[82]

Prototypes development
Note: The start dates are when prototypes were first spotted by the public, and the end dates are when prototypes are destroyed, decommissioned, or retired.

  Simplified prototypes •   Starship spacecraft •   Super Heavy booster •   Test tanks

Starhopper–SN6: Hops
Videos of Starship prototypes' tests
From NASASpaceFlight.com, Tim Dodd and SpaceX
Starhopper 20m hop
Starhopper 150m hop
Starship Mk1 cryogenic proof test
Starship SN1 cryogenic proof test
Starship SN3 cryogenic proof test
Starship SN5 150m hop
Starship SN6 150m hop

Starhopper is the first prototypes to operate the Raptor engines, or any full-flow staged combustion in general.[83] The test article hopped to about 150 m (490 ft) and travelled to the landing pad on 27 August 2019 at 23:02 UTC.[84]

Starship Mk1 (Mark 1) was the first full‑scale Starship prototype built in September 2019[85] and Mk2 was constructed five months later in Florida. Both prototypes could not fly and were recycled years later.[86]

During a cryogenic proof or propellant fueling test on 28 February 2020, SN1 (Mk3) crumbled due to a fault in its bottom tank.[87]

On 3 April 2020, during SN3's cryogenic proof test, a valve leaked the liquid nitrogen inside its lower tank, causing the vessel to depressurize and collapse.[88]

On 29 May 2020, SN4 exploded after its fifth successful static fire or engine firing test.[89] A month later, Musk tweeted that new prototypes would be made from SAE 304L instead of SAE 301 stainless steel.[13]

On 4 August 2020, SN5 completed a 150 m (490 ft) hop using a single Raptor engine,[90] and SN6 replicated SN5's flight path successfully 20 days later.[91]

SN8–SN15: Flights
Videos of Starship prototypes' tests
From NASASpaceFlight.com and SpaceX
Starship SN8 third static fire test
Starship SN8 12.5km flight
Starship SN9 10km flight
Starship SN10 10km flight
Starship SN11 10km flight
Starship SN15 10km flight

SN8 was the first complete Starship prototype and underwent four static fire tests between October and November 2020.[92] Notably, in the third static fire test, the engine melted the launch pad, and bits of molten concrete hit it back.[93] On 9 December 2020, SN8 performed the first flight by a Starship, reaching an altitude of 12.5 km (7.8 mi), and crashed on impact.[94] During the SN8 launch, SpaceX ignored the FAA warnings that the flight profile posed a risk of explosion, causing the FAA's Associate Administrator Wayne Monteith to condemn the company for not conducting thorough checks established by the agency.[95]

On 2 February 2021, SN9 flew 10 km (6.2 mi) high, then crashed at an angle.[96]

On 3 March 2021, SN10 repeated SN9's flight path, successfully hard landed, and exploded eight minutes later.[97]

On 30 March 2021, SN11 exploded in a dense fog while descending,[98] with the most possible explanation being a hard start on the engine's turbopump.[99]

After the launch, SpaceX skipped SN12, SN13, and SN14, incorporating their improvements to SN15 instead.[100] On 5 May 2021, SN15 flew the same flight path as previous prototypes and soft-landed successfully.[101][102]

SN20–present: Launches

Around August 2021, SpaceX used an alternate "Starship X" and "Booster X" naming scheme where X is the serial number. They are often abbreviated to "SN" and "BN", followed by the prototype's number. Sometimes, "Starship X" is abbreviated to "Ship X", "SN" to just "S", and "BN" to "B".[103]

As of October 2021, SN20 and BN4 are targeted for an orbital flight pending approval from the FAA.[104] BN4 is expected to separate about three minutes into the orbital flight and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 30 km (19 mi) from the shoreline. SN20 spacecraft's ground track will then traverse the middle of the Straits of Florida. Once over the Atlantic Ocean, SN20 is expected to accelerate close to orbital speed and splashdown around ninety minutes later, 100 km (60 mi) northwest of the island of Kauaʻi.[105][106] As of December 2021, the FAA is assessing the environmental impact statement draft with the public's comments.[107]

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