SpaceX Starship: Everything we know about INCREDIBLE silver rocket bound for Mars

Starship will open a new frontier in SpaceX’s extraterrestrial ambitions. And SpaceX’s Mars-bound rocket is about to take a step closer to becoming a reality. CEO Elon Musk recently revealed SpaceX is about to offer an update on the stainless steel retro designed rocket, “probably” this time next month.

SpaceX head Elon Musk has been drip feeding clues June 20 will see an orbital prototype demonstration.

Starship’s Super Heavy booster has been taking shape in the last couple of months.

And the SpaceX CEO announced the Starship’s orbital prototype would be ready around June.

Images from the test facility have shown the eye-catching ship undergoing construction.

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SpaceX has made rapid progress toward its goal of developing a ship capable of taking on both more ambitious missions in addition to more standard cargo missions for commercial clients.

SpaceX unveiled initial designs for Starship in September 2017 under the BFR name.

Starship’s first version had a diameter of 30ft, height of 348ft, and a weight of 9.7 million pounds.

Starship’s Raptor engine will use liquid oxygen and methane instead of standard propellant.

This means manned missions can establish propellant depots and return home from Mars — or even venture out further and establish a planet-hopping network.

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Each Raptor engine provides 38,000 pounds of thrust, using 31 in total to provide liftoff thrust of 10.8 million pounds.

This is equivalent to double the capacity of the Falcon Heavy, currently the most powerful SpaceX rocket in operation.

A further seven engines will reside on the ship itself.

In January 2019, Musk explained Starship would incorporate transpiration cooling technology to keep the ship at a suitable temperature.

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The new, stainless steel design would essentially enable a liquid to pass through a porous surface and keep the exterior cool.

Starship is expected to enter the Martian atmosphere at 16,777 mph. With a melting point of 1,530 Celsius it makes for a more suitable material than something like aluminium capable of surviving only 600 Celsius.

In April 2019, SpaceX completed its first tethered hops with the Starhopper, a miniaturised version of the ship.

And Starhopper’s first non-tethered flights are expected at some point over the summer.

source: express.co.uk