we’ll explore SpaceX Starship rocket prototype testing, which is a major part of their mission to make space travel more affordable and reach Mars.
SpaceX Starship Rocket Prototype Testing: An Introduction
Starship will be used for rocket prototype testing and developing landing/low altitude/low-speed control algorithms. The test rocket will only be equipped with three Raptor Rocket engines, will not exceed 5 km in altitude, and is expected to fly no earlier than the first half of 2019.
By March 2019, SpaceX had canceled the multi-million-dollar carbon composite production tooling they had purchased from Ascent Aerospace, abandoned all production plans at the Port of Los Angeles, and closed the composite manufacturing facility.
Super Heavy prototype construction was originally scheduled to begin by the second quarter of 2019. The first batch of Super Heavy rockets to be built The Heavy booster will have fewer engines than the full-size Raptor’s 28 engines, simply because early test flights will not require so many engines and this move will reduce SpaceX’s losses in the event of a booster failure during an early test flight.
Rocket Structure of SpaceX Starship
According to Musk, SpaceX’s next-generation launch vehicle design combines several elements that will enable long-duration spaceflight beyond Earth orbit (BEO). SpaceX predicts that the design will reduce launch costs and serve all available missions in the traditional low-Earth orbit market, allowing SpaceX to focus most of its development resources on the next-generation launch vehicle.
The fully reusable Super Heavy launch vehicle will consist of two main parts: a reusable booster stage, called the Super Heavy, and a reusable second stage with an integrated payload section, called Starship.
Combining the second stage of a launch vehicle with a long-duration spacecraft will be a unique architecture for space missions. This architecture depends on the success of orbital refueling.
Key features of the launch vehicle include
Both stages are designed to be fully reusable, with the booster returning to the launch pad and the second stage/spacecraft also capable of returning to the launch pad. Both will use reusable launch vehicle technology developed earlier by SpaceX. A complete Starship-Super Heavy stack will be taller than the Statue of Liberty. A special robotic arm (colloquially called a “chopstick”) is used to capture and stack the Starship and Super Heavy boosters.
The goal is to reduce fuel costs to $1 million to $2 million for large launches of Starship, although Musk has stated that this cost will be extremely difficult to reduce.
Super Heavy, is the first-stage booster of SpaceX’s next-generation launch vehicle. It is 71 meters (230 feet) high and 9 meters (30 feet) in diameter, expected to have a total liftoff mass of 3,530,000 kg (7,780,000 lb.). It is made of stainless steel tanks and support structures, uses supercooled liquid methane and liquid oxygen (CH4/LOX) propellants, and is powered by 29 Raptor rocket engines, of which the inner ring of 9 Raptor engines can change the thrust direction. Version 2 will increase the number of Raptor engines to 33 by the end of 2022, of which the inner ring of 13 Raptor engines have vector control, and the 33 engines provide a total of 75.9 MN (17,000,000 lbs) of takeoff thrust., the thrust-to-weight ratio is close to 1.5.
According to the FAA’s Starship environmental survey report, the maximum number of Raptor engines that can be installed on Super Heavy is 37. As of February 2022, Musk stated that the Super Heavy can be equipped with up to 33 second-generation Raptor engines without changing the diameter and that the Super Heavy is expected to be able to refuel in 30 minutes.
It has four non-retractable grid wings
It has four non-retractable grid wings but no landing legs. In subsequent boosters, this will be further reduced to 3/2 grid wings. Future Starships (BS925 and later) will switch to hot staging mode, and the Super Heavy booster will have additional exhaust ports. When the Super Heavy booster engine is running at 50% thrust with the remaining three central engines, the engines of the parent Starship will be started and staged to obtain an additional 10% payload performance.
Recovery
The prototype booster cannot be recovered at present, and can only be softly landed on the water to avoid explosion, but in subsequent prototypes (the earliest B9) it will be replaced by a launch tower using chopsticks/mechanical arms (Chopsticks/Mechazilla) for aerial capture.
Second stage/spacecraft: Starship
Artist’s impression of the separation of the BFR upper stage thrusters. Starship is a reusable spacecraft that can also be used as a launch vehicle second stage, with an integrated payload section. Starship will have at least the following variants.
Crew Starship:
A large, crewed spacecraft capable of transporting passengers and a small amount of cargo between point-to-point destinations on Earth, in low-Earth orbit, or between interplanetary destinations.
Tanker:
The entire volume of the tanker will be used to carry fuel for in-orbit refueling of the crew/cargo Starship in orbit.
There are currently two known variants, one with a double-door nose cone for launching spacecraft into orbit or recovering them in space (the current test nose cone has this design). The second variant has a single-door nose cone for launching Starlink satellites into space (S24 is the first Starship to have this design). As of January 2023, Starship can carry up to 150 tons of spacecraft into Earth orbit and can reach 150 tons or more after orbital refueling, and 250 tons or more if not recovered.
Starship Human Landing System: On April 30, 2020, NASA selected SpaceX to participate in its Artemis program. SpaceX will build a reusable lunar lander for NASA. The planned lander will be a simplified version of Starship, used only to transport astronauts and cargo between the lunar surface and LOP-G. [80] Because this version of Starship only needs to travel between lunar orbit and the lunar surface, it does not need to install the flaps and heat shield required for atmospheric reentry. To avoid raising lunar dust, a smaller landing engine will be installed in the upper part of the Starship.
Deep Space Vehicle:
A large deep space vehicle without the flaps, sea-level Raptor engines, heat shields, and capture locks is required for returning to Earth, and cannot therefore return to Earth for reuse. This version of Starship will be used for long-term deep space exploration.
Tanker dock: The tanker dock is taller than Starship (no exact date), lacks the flaps needed to return to Earth, sea-level Raptor engines, thermal tiles, and capture locks, and cannot therefore return to Earth for reuse. Tankers can dock with it and refuel, and then refuel other Starships.
The main features of Starship include
The design allows the ship to take off and land vertically, allowing it to re-enter the atmosphere from Earth orbit and return to the vicinity of the launch pad, and can also perform ground-to-ground and point-to-point suborbital flights
- SpaceX expects that landing reliability will eventually reach “airline levels”
- Rendezvous and docking operations will be automatic
Landing and recovery
Currently, the Starship prototype is tested using disposable landing legs to reduce the damage caused by test failures and the prototype is not suitable for reuse.
The Starship will use six retractable landing legs for recovery, but according to Musk’s latest plan, it will now be stacked and captured in the air by a ground capture tower with a bracket capture claw.
Future development
In subsequent Starships, the front flaps will be adjusted closer to the back of the Starship. It is more likely that the front flaps will be removed to further reduce weight and improve the mass ratio. At the same time, the Starship will be about ten meters taller than the current design and use six vacuum Raptor engines.
In addition, when the current Starship is staged, the Super Heavy booster will be swung away from the upper Starship to allow the Starship to be staged. However, on June 24, 2023, Musk stated that Starship would be converted to thermal staged mode, with new exhaust ports added to the Super Heavy booster, and the engines of the upper stage Starship would be started and staged before the engines were shut down, to obtain an additional 10% payload performance, and the upgrade was expected to be completed within 6 weeks.
