SpaceX is the giant of the private space sector that surprises more and more every year. Currently, the company founded by Elon Musk is testing the largest Starship rocket. In the future it has Allowing humanity to become a multi-planetary species and build a city on Mars. On Saturday, a special conference was held, where the visionary presented SpaceX's plans for the near and distant future.
Starship is currently the largest rocket ever built by humanity. Including the first stage called Super Heavy, the entire structure is more than 120 meters high. SpaceX has so far conducted three orbital tests. Two of them were held in 2023, and the last one in March, and were very successful. Elon Musk's company is working on something bigger!
During the conference held Saturday at Starbase in Boca Chica, Elon Musk presented visions of two other rockets. here they are Starship 2 and 3Which were displayed on the presentation slides. How will it differ from the currently tested design?
Starship 2 is scheduled to be larger compared to the structure used during the March test. He must have it all Height: 124.4 metres, including 72.3 metres for the very heavy missile. The rocket will be able to fly into space Loads weighing more than 100 tons. By comparison, the Falcon Heavy, a three-stage Falcon 9 rocket, can lift 64 tons into low Earth orbit.
The new version of Super Heavy is expected to offer approximately 15 percent. More thrust compared to the booster used during March testing. In fact, Starship 2 will be the first version of SpaceX's rocket that will be fully operational and will allow it to send cargo into space.
Elon Musk has stated that SpaceX is already launching more cargo into space than launches done by other companies or countries. When the spacecraft is able to fly regularly, the share will reach 99%.
Starship 3 will be a larger structure with much greater capabilities. According to the information revealed by Elon Musk, he is supposed to own everything Height 150 m. Super Heavy is supposed to be high About 80 metres, the ship will grow to about 70 metres. Of course, the possibilities of transporting cargo into space will also increase – Do ponad 200 tons In one start, which is impressive.
The ship that is part of Starship 3 will not only be larger, but will also receive more Raptor engines. Three core and six vacuum. The latter will allow missions to be carried out to other corners of the solar system, which Elon Musk has already announced, and even beyond its borders.
The SpaceX founder claims that Starship 3 will be able to fly anywhere in our star system. Ultimately, however Its goal is to send missions to MarsTo which Elon Musk links certain visions regarding humanity achieving multi-planetary species status.
Starship 2 and 3 are visions of the future, and in the meantime, SpaceX must complete work on the current generation of rocket. Elon Musk confirmed this during the conference The fourth orbital flight is scheduled to take place in May this year. He also revealed some information related to the recovery process for both degrees.
In the coming months, SpaceX will want to do just that Restore the first stage of Super Heavy. He will be caught by a huge arm attached to the tower. This will only make flights using Starship cheaper, because currently the structures are collapsing and new ones have to be built.
In the case of the ship, recovery attempts are scheduled for next year. In this case, the situation is more difficult, but achievable. This was proven by SpaceX during its flights to an altitude of several kilometers, as it was finally able to land this item on a private station as a whole. There are also plans to conduct in-orbit refueling. This is a fundamental process that will enable missions to be sent to the Moon, Mars and other parts of the solar system.
Much of the conference was devoted to humanity becoming a multi-planetary species. Elon Musk explained this Mars is best suited for this purpose. Venus is out for obvious reasons. So that insight was provided (again) Plan to colonize the red planetwhere Starship will play a major role.
According to Musk Construction of a city on Mars could begin within two decades. However, for this purpose, thousands of tons of cargo must be delivered to the Red Planet. However, SpaceX will already have a full fleet of spacecraft that can (about every 26 months) regularly travel to Mars with supplies and people.
According to Musk, a self-sustaining city on Mars would need to have a population of about 1 million people. With this number, it could function as a small country. Of course, all this remains a dream for now, and not a task that can be easily achieved. In fact, it would cost an unimaginable fortune. Even if the costs of each Starship launch could be reduced to approximately the $2-3 million mentioned by the SpaceX founder.
The spaceships will be launched from special tower sites called mekazelas. SpaceX wants soon Construction of two duplex facilities from this type. The first in Boca Chica, and the second in Florida, which will be done in cooperation with NASA, which has also invested a lot of money in the development of Musk's large rocket and has chosen the ship as a lunar lander for the Artemis mission planned for 2026. A recording of the conference at Starbase is below.
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