What is the purpose of this SpaceX Starship?

Elon Musk on Wednesday said SpaceX is “hoping” to launch the first orbital flight test of its mammoth Starship rocket in January, depending on testing and regulatory approval. Starship is the massive, next-generation rocket SpaceX is developing to launch cargo and people on missions to the moon and Mars.

How many times can Starship be reused?

According to Elon Musk, almost every piece of the Falcon should be reused over 100 times. Heat shields and a few other items should be reused over 10 times before replacement. In March 2017, SpaceX announced progress in their experiments to recover, and eventually reuse, the 6-million dollar payload fairing.

What material is Starship made of?

Starship consists of two stages: a Super Heavy booster and a Starship spacecraft; both have a body made from SAE 304L stainless steel. Starship and Super Heavy are also powered by Raptor and Raptor Vacuum engines, consuming liquid oxygen and methane.

What is SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft?

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket (collectively referred to as Starship) represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.

How high can a SpaceX rocket travel?

By leaning on lone Starship spacecraft, incapable of reaching orbit by themselves, Musk believes that SpaceX could transport passengers up to ~10,000 km at speeds as high as “Mach 20” (6.9 km/s, 15,500 mph).

Is SpaceX’s Earth-to-Earth transport possible?

In an instant, SpaceX’s concept of Earth-to-Earth transport starts to look more like an exotic version of proposed supersonic and hypersonic transport solutions.

Where are SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy booster prototypes built?

All Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster prototypes were constructed at the SpaceX South Texas launch site, referred to by SpaceX as “Starbase”, and known as the “Boca Chica launch site” in legal documents.