Author: Matt Williams / Source: Universe Today
For Elon Musk and SpaceX, the company he founded to reignite space exploration, a great deal hinges on the creation of the Starship. This super-heavy launch vehicle, which was has evolved considerably in the past few years, will eventually replace the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy as the mainstay of the SpaceX fleet. Once operational, it will also facilitate missions to the Moon and eventually Mars.
Once again, Elon Musk has used his social media platform of choice to share the latest details about the Starship‘s progress. As he shared in a series of tweets, which began on
The Raptor is a staged-combustion reusable rocket engine powered by cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen (LOX), rather than the kerosene and LOX combination (RP1) which powers the Merlin rockets used by the Falcon rocket family. Once complete, the Starship will have seven Raptor engines, each of which will provide twice as much thrust as the Merlin 1D used by the Falcon 9.
News of the engine’s test-firing began with Musk posting two pictures of the Raptor engine along with the caption, “Preparing to fire the Starship Raptor engine.” In addition to the pictures, Musk took the opportunity to share specifications that provided some clues as to what path the company is planning to take with the Starship in the near future.
For example, Musk
“Initially making one 200 metric ton thrust engine common across ship & booster to reach the moon as fast as possible. Next versions will split to vacuum-optimized (380+ sec Isp) & sea-level thrust optimized (~250 ton).”
Here, Musk is alluding to the first crewed mission of the Starship, which is scheduled to take place in 2023. According to the plan that Musk announced back in September, this inaugural flight will see Japanese fashion designer and art curator Yusaku Maezawa and a group of artists being taken on a flight around the Moon.
This mission, the #dearmoon project, will be the first private lunar passenger flight in history and is intended to help fund the development of the Starship. The flight will last a full week and will involve the passengers using the journey to inspire their particular brand of artwork. By streamlining the development of the engine, Musk is indicating that he may be accelerating the…
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