Elon Musk's Starship will fly humans next year
On Saturday, SpaceX founder Elon Musk gave an update on the development of his company's next-generation spacecraft - the Starship. He claimed that the vehicle, meant to fly humans to Moon, Mars, and beyond, is developing progressively and will be ready to go orbital in six months and fly humans sometime next year. Here's all about his grand plans.
First, let's know about the development of Starship
Musk claimed that the first prototype of Starship, Mk1, is ready in Texas and will be going on a suborbital flight in one-two months. The 165 feet vehicle, made from welded stainless steel panel rings, will demonstrate launch and landing capabilities by take-off, flying up to an altitude of 65,000 feet, coming back, and landing vertically - much like current Falcon 9 vehicles.
Prototyping and testing to go hand in hand
Along with Mk1, SpaceX has also been developing a second prototype, Mk2, at Cape Canaveral, Florida. This prototype is also closing in on completion and will be going suborbital around the same two-month timeline. Notably, Musk has said these two builds will compete internally, which will guide the development of more advanced Starship prototypes Mk3, Mk4, and Mk5 at the same time.
Mk3, Mk4 or Mk5 to go orbital in six months
Musk emphasized the Mk3, Mk4, Mk5 prototypes are likely to be prepped in around three to five months' time and one of them will go orbital in six months. However, he noted that the work would be solely focused on developing Starships until Mk4. Once that's done, the development of Super Heavy, the liquid-oxygen powered booster that will propel Starship into space/orbit, will start.
Crewed flight to happen sometime next year
One of the advanced prototypes of Starship and Super Heavy will be utilized to fly a crew of humans into orbital space and back sometime next year, Musk said, adding that the vehicles will be fully reusable.
Eventually, this will lead to the development of final Starship
The development and testing of these prototypes and booster will help SpaceX prepare the final version of Starship (with 6 Raptor engines) and Super Heavy (with 37 Raptor engines). The combo will eventually be utilized to fly humans and cargo weighing up to 100 tons for building bases on Moon and Mars, making humanity a multi-planetary species.
