SpaceX Started Work On First Starship

SPACEX STARTED WORK ON FIRST STARSHIP All the news regarding Starship Hopper or StarHopper as Elon Musk refers to the test vehicle, have stolen the headlines over past few weeks, furthermore Elon Musk also announced the work on Both Super Heavy and SpaceX Starship has commenced, if his scheduled holds very first Starship could roll out sometimes in June and Super Heavy would follow soon behind in July. Elon Musk had a dream, dream that one day humanity might colonize Mars. Just like in Kim Stanley Robinson’s novels The Mars Trilogy. All this soon could become a reality largely thanx to Elon Musk, and SpaceX rocket that is being built. Work on SpaceX Starship has started, with likely rolling out day scheduled for mid June. The work on Super Heavy is expected start in few weeks’ time, with rolling out date expected sometimes in mid to late July. It is not clear if both Starship and Super Heavy are expected to be tested individually or as one complete system soon after they’ve been completed. SpaceX hopes to build both monster rockets at two sites, A duo of SpaceX job postings at the company’s South Texas facilities have confirmed that both Starship and Super Heavy vehicles will initially be fabricated and assembled on-site in Boca Chica, also implying that the rocket’s first orbital launch attempts will occur in the same facility. Posted on February 15th, both open positions centered around structural assembly (i.e. welding) critical for the construction of the massive propellant tank domes, barrel sections, and other major structure of Starship and Super Heavy. Following an unanticipated pivot to stainless steel – rather than advanced carbon composites – as the primary structural material of choice for BFR, the project has been continually marked by a flurry of impressive technical progress. Most notably, and sadly, SpaceX appeared to have terminated a lease agreement it had held with the Port of Los Angeles for a large berth meant to be developed into a dedicated factory for Super Heavy and Starship, whose 9m diameter would have been highly impractical to build somewhere that wasn’t either at the rocket’s launch site or directly adjacent to a port. With its headquarters in Hawthorne, CA (southwestern Los Angeles), SpaceX’s first choice was unsurprisingly the Port of LA, a location that would have allowed its 5000+ strong local workforce to seamlessly transfer to the Starship program without requiring highly disruptive relocations. Known as Berth 240, SpaceX’s lease began in March 2018 but was reportedly terminated in January 2019, likely meaning that the company will have to vacate the premises soon. While an official SpaceX statement and subsequent Elon Musk tweets relating to that report served to partially correct the record and confirm that “Starship prototypes” would be built locally in South Texas, Super Heavy was never mentioned. SpaceX’s latest job postings complete the image, indicating that all aspects of the first Starship and Super Heavy prototypes will be assembled in South Texas. Weighing just shy of 4.5 million kilograms fully-fuelled and standing around 118m tall with both stages stacked together, BFR or Starship once operational will be the most powerful rocket ever launched or built. As a result of which the new methods of production and assembly thanks to its sheer scale and the extensive integration of stainless steel alloys into its design. Co mpared to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which is by no means small, Super Heavy on its own could end up being 68m tall, just slightly shorter than a complete Falcon 9 with a booster, upper stage, and fairing 71m. Standing on its tripod fins, Starship stands around 55m tall, and once completed will be the largest and most powerful spaceship ever launched, capable launching up to 50 tons in to low earth orbit, on its own power. With the recent NASA announcements of SLS re-think and looking for commercial partners to deliver future Lunar components, SpaceX saw impetus and unexpected need for Starship and Super Heavy, and although SpaceX hopped the commercial demand for both rockets might materialize further down the line, the unexpected twist makes things a lot easier for SpaceX, Elon Musk and future Mars colonization remains on target.. NASA return to the Moon by 2028, including construction of the permanent base on the lunar surface by 2029, has given SpaceX and Starship new lease of life. Something I am sure Elon Musk will use to its full effect. The consequences for Boeing and SLS might be less clear now, but clear winner here might be SpaceX and Starship.