SpaceX’s Starship is a critical element of the Artemis III mission which is supposed to return humans to the lunar surface. For several years, SpaceX is set to launch for orbital flight has been working on this rocket which aims to take heavier payloads into orbit, to reach up to the moon, and finally to Mars. Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX has envisioned a rocket that could ferry people around the world. The 120m rocket is based in Texas and will be having its first orbital launch soon.
Vehicles Powered by Raptor Engine
Starship comprises a giant first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 50 meters tall upper-stage spacecraft Starship. Both of these vehicles are powered by the next-generation Raptor engine – 33 for Super Heavy and six for Starship. The rocket is designed to be fully reusable and makes remind us of old rockets in the 1940s and 1950s. Till today, Starship has flown only up to 12.5 km in altitude, and among four high-altitude tested flights, only one has been successfully landed.
The SpaceX is set to launch for orbital flight!
Largest Lauch Capacity
SpaceX is set to launch for orbital flight vertically in the two stages and then the booster stage which is again similar to the first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Moreover, the Starship has the unique ability to launch the fuelling spacecraft that will dock with the passenger or cargo spacecraft.
“Starship is a potentially revolutionary technology in that it’s a super-heavy lift rocket, And it will have the largest launch capacity of any rocket that humans have designed so far. And it has the added additional benefit of potentially being reusable,” said Canadian Jordan Bimm, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago and a space historian.
Elon Musk anticipates the multiple applications of the Starships. For Artemis III mission, the Orion spacecraft of NASA Orion spacecraft will be lifting off from the Earth, and headed to the moon, followed or preceded by Starship. Then, in a halo orbit, it will unite with Starshi through which the astronauts will be transferred and then landed on the moon.