Why SpaceX Built A Stainless Steel Starship

Great video. My experience with engineering ( as opposed to pure science ) is that engineering is all about making mistakes and learning from them

In the spring of 2014, I visited the Michoud Assembly Facility, based in Southern Louisiana. Already, technicians were building barrels for the Space Launch System rocket's core stage. And NASA was investing tens of millions of dollars to modernize Michoud to produce the rocket. At the time, an aerospace analyst for the Rand Corporation, Peter Wilson, explained that, "They’re throwing the money into this program, into places like Michoud, to make it very expensive to change course."

NASA has not changed course. And after at least 5.5 years, during which time NASA has spent more than $10 billion on the SLS rocket, they are finally almost done assembling that first core stage, consisting of two large fuel tanks, four main engines, and all of a rocket's associated plumbing.

One answer to the question of why this has taken so long, and required so much money, is that there has been a lack of urgency. Large complex development programs—like, say, super heavy lift rockets—work best with low levels of funding during the design phase, a spike during development, and then diminished funding during flight production. Instead, after Congress created the SLS rocket program with a baseline of about $2 billion a year, it kept funding at, more or less, flat levels plus inflation. This is a great strategy for creating and sustaining jobs, but it's a poor way to go about rocket development.

SpaceX's Starship prototype, fabricated in a field in South Texas in five months, offers a counter example. It's what a sense of urgency can accomplish.

The SLS rocket core stage, consisting of four space shuttle main engines, measures 64.6 meters tall, with a diameter of 8.4 meters. The Starship Mk1 vehicle is 50.0 meters tall, with a diameter of 9.1 meters. So they are roughly the same size. Neither is the complete rocket. On the launch pad, the SLS will have two very large side-mounted solid-rocket boosters, derived from the space shuttle. And Starship is actually the upper stage of SpaceX's next-generation rocket, Super Heavy.

By itself, the SLS core stage cannot get to orbit. In fact, according to physicist Scott Manley, without its side-mounted boosters a fully fueled SLS core stage cannot even lift off the launch pad. The SpaceX Starship prototype, with three Raptor engines instead of a full complement of six, also cannot get to orbit. But it should be able to reach at least 25 to 30km, said Manley, who has a popular rocket science YouTube channel.

The SLS rocket remains a couple of years from its maiden flight. Starship, however, will likely make a 20km flight in November, Musk said.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two new rockets is the velocity of their development. The SLS core stage, which uses heritage technology from the space shuttle, including its main engines, has taken at least 5.5 years to build, and billions of dollars.

Starship Mk 1 didn't even exist until this spring, and it may leap off the pad before year's end. This appears to underscore the value of urgency and clarity of purpose. At SpaceX the urging comes from the top. As Musk said of schedules on Saturday night, "tight is right, long is wrong." And Starship has a clear exploration purpose as well, allowing humans to settle other worlds, and fuel optimism in humanity's future.

IMO we gotta clear a tons of space debris before we get something like a space elevator

An excellent read:
Inside Elon Musk’s plan to build one Starship a week—and settle Mars

An excellent read:
Inside Elon Musk’s plan to build one Starship a week—and settle Mars

I will be most curious to see the legal and social ramifications of establishing settlements on Mars.

I would expect that unless somebody else can get there at the same time it will be similar to 15th century exploration.... i.e. "finders keepers"

Indeed it will be interesting . I would expect that unless somebody else can get there at the same time it will be similar to 15th century exploration.... i.e. "finders keepers"

No doubt the US, Russia, China etc will all make a lot of noise but in reality if Musk can keep control of his funds he will effectively be "king of Mars". Not much different than how kings originated

As I said " IF Musk can keep control of his funds " He's a smart guy. You never know what he has up his sleeve

As I said " IF Musk can keep control of his funds " He's a smart guy. You never know what he has up his sleeve

https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-starship-incredible-elon-musk-photo/amp

A full-size prototype of SpaceX’s Starship violently exploded in South Texas moments after a test-firing of its Raptor engine Friday, dealing a setback to the company’s next-generation reusable rocket program.

The fiery explosion at SpaceX’s test site at Boca Chica, just east of Brownsville near the U.S.-Mexico border, occurred at 1:49 p.m. CDT (2:49 p.m. EDT; 1849 GMT) Friday, around two minutes after a brief firing of a Raptor engine mounted to the base of the Starship vehicle.

A cloud of vapors suddenly appeared around the bottom of the Starship vehicle — made of stainless steel — moments after the Raptor engine appeared to complete a normal test-firing that lasted a few seconds. Vapors were also visible streaming from vents higher up on the Starship vehicle before the explosion.

The fire appeared to originate near the base of the rocket, and the Starship was nearly instantaneously engulfed in a fireball. Multiple live webcams aimed at the Starship showed debris from the rocket falling around the test stand.

The explosion occurred one day before a separate SpaceX team at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida plans a second launch attempt for the company’s first spaceflight with humans aboard a Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft. An earlier try was scrubbed Wednesday due to bad weather.

Why SpaceX Built A Stainless Steel Starship

SpaceX launched astronauts for the first time barely a week ago but CEO Elon Musk does not want the company resting on its laurels.

Instead, Musk urged SpaceX employees to accelerate progress on its next-generation Starship rocket “dramatically and immediately,” writing Saturday in a company-wide email seen by CNBC.

“Please consider the top SpaceX priority (apart from anything that could reduce Dragon return risk) to be Starship,” Musk wrote in the email

Aren't they returning this month?

They who returning from where?

The 2 astronauts that went up to the ISS on the Dragon 2, returning to earth this month.

On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary flight restriction for SpaceX to conduct a Starship launch from its facility near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas. The notification allows the company to attempt a Starship hop on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, between the hours of 9am EST (14:00 UTC) and 6pm EST (23:00 UTC) daily. SpaceX must still obtain a launch license from the FAA for this flight.

The company's founder and chief engineer, Elon Musk, has said SpaceX will attempt to fly Starship to an altitude of 15km to demonstrate the performance of three Raptor engines over the course of several minutes. The company's previous flights to about 150 meters, in August and September, used a single Raptor engine.

This higher flight profile will take Starship above nearly 90 percent of Earth's atmosphere, which will allow the company to do several new tests: assess the performance of body flaps on Starship, transition from using propellant from the main fuel tanks to smaller ones used for landing burns, and test the vehicle's ability to reorient itself for returning to the launch site.

Looking forward to watching it happen. Hopefully no anomalies.

Got there just in time for the abort.

Here's some amazing insight in to our world. SpaceX, doing some of the most innovative space flight things in history, has less than five million subscribers on YouTube.

PewDiePie has almost 110 million subscribers on YouTube.

Still watching replays of the flight on YouTube.
Great to hear all the space enthusiasts screaming and yelling.

The flight went far more successfully than I thought it would go. They came so close to complete success by almost sticking the landing. I was impressed by how controlled the changes in vehicle attitude looked.
Fantastic first attempt. Would not be surprised at all if they stick the landing for SN9.
The next crazy moment will be watching the Super Heavy booster test flight.
So much to look forward to in the next year that would not be happening if we were depending on the old space establishment to advance spaceflight.