I have been following the progress of Elon’s new toy.

It is taller and larger than the Saturn 5, and is expected to launch more weight into low earth orbit than Saturn 5.The Starship is then placed into orbit. The plan is for several other launches of bulk rocket fuel to refuel it in space. At that point it moves from Earth orbit to either the Moon, or Mars.

After successfully returning the launch vehicle many times onto a ship in the ocean, the new plan is to return the new one to a tower in Texas where it was launched from, where it is caught by a couple of large arms, and replaced into the same launch pad, and re-launched within an hour.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship

> the new plan is to return the new one to a tower in Texas where it was launched from, where it is caught by a couple of large arms, and replaced into the same launch pad, and re-launched within an hour.

Might work on a Gerry Anderson puppet show, but real life is less accommodating.

Bubblecar said:

> the new plan is to return the new one to a tower in Texas where it was launched from, where it is caught by a couple of large arms, and replaced into the same launch pad, and re-launched within an hour.

Might work on a Gerry Anderson puppet show, but real life is less accommodating.

It’s marketing by Musk™ I wouldn’t expect any different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGFIE6x_81Y

The sheer size of this thing is surprising.

Some of the rocket engines have been tested, some not, hence the different colours.

Some bananas for scale assembling the orbital vehicle to the launch vehicle.

The heat shield tiles for re-entry.

I have to admire the sheer audacity of this thing. It looks like a farmers old grain silo, and he plans to launch it into orbit, then do a re-entry, then land upright ready for re-use.

This particular one is a throwaway test bed, and both the booster and the starship are planned to do a soft landing into the ocean as if it were land. I’m expecting one of the biggest rocket asplosions ever shortly after launch, but would be pleasantly surprised if it all works.

It is impressive.

Kingy said:

This particular one is a throwaway test bed, and both the booster and the starship are planned to do a soft landing into the ocean as if it were land. I’m expecting one of the biggest rocket asplosions ever shortly after launch, but would be pleasantly surprised if it all works.

As someone from NASA once said, ‘we learn to build spacecraft that work by building spacecraft that don’t work’.

Kingy said:

I have been following the progress of Elon’s new toy.

It is taller and larger than the Saturn 5, and is expected to launch more weight into low earth orbit than Saturn 5.The Starship is then placed into orbit. The plan is for several other launches of bulk rocket fuel to refuel it in space. At that point it moves from Earth orbit to either the Moon, or Mars.

After successfully returning the launch vehicle many times onto a ship in the ocean, the new plan is to return the new one to a tower in Texas where it was launched from, where it is caught by a couple of large arms, and replaced into the same launch pad, and re-launched within an hour.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship

Is this single stage or two stage?

If single stage, then my cartoon applies. Not this cartoon, the other one.

This one.