Elon Musk is about to unveil SpaceX's new Mars spaceship prototype in Texas. Here's what we know so far.
SpaceX's design for Starship has evolved significantly. The company's latest design (right) has two aft fins instead of three, larger leeward fins, and has six pop-out landing legs instead of three static legs to provide "redundancy for landing on unimproved surfaces," Musk said — like the moon or Mars.
Musk recently visited the site but has been keeping an eye on Starship Mk 1 production from afar. "Area 51 of Area 51," Musk said of this image taken by a nearby resident.
Source: Elon Musk/SpaceX; Twitter
SpaceX's work yard in Boca Chica has a giant tent for housing parts. Making a reference to the "Star Wars" sci-fi franchise, Musk said of this image inside the tent: "Droid Junkyard, Tatooine." Sections of Starship Mk 1 can be seen in the background.
Source: Elon Musk/SpaceX; Twitter
"Just leaving SpaceX Starship build site in Boca," Musk said of this short video clip on Monday. It shows row after row of curved steel panels that make up a Starship prototype's 30-foot-wide body.
Source: Elon Musk/SpaceX; Twitter
Workers have been working into the night to prepare Starship Mk 1 for Musk's presentation on September 28.
Source: Elon Musk/SpaceX; Twitter
The company is preparing to stack its nosecone section before the weekend. As part of that work, it lifted the lower section onto a crane ...
... and set it on a mobile transporter to move it into place.
Musk also shared a number of views from inside the prototype rocket ship's engine bay.
Called Raptor engines, the devices are designed to create powerful thrust by rapidly burning liquid methane with liquid oxygen. Musk wants to manufacture both fuels on the surface of Mars using water, energy, and the red planet's thin air.
Source: Business Insider
The finished Starship Mk 1 prototype will weigh about 200 tons without fuel, according to Musk — about as heavy as a blue whale. Fueling it up would add another 1,200 tons (six blue whales) of weight.
Sources: Twitter, HowStuffWorks
But that's just the three-Raptor prototype. Musk said final version of Starship could weigh up to 5,000 tons once stacked atop a reusable rocket booster called Super Heavy, and have more than 40 car-size Raptor engines altogether. Such a vehicle would dwarf SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets and even NASA's Saturn V moon rockets.
Source: Business Insider
SpaceX is currently in "Phase 2" of its testing and will aim to launch Starship Mk 1 to about 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) above the ground from Texas this year. When asked about the timing of the first launch, Musk said on Thursday: "This is quite a complex beast, but hopefully within a month or so."
Source: Twitter
SpaceX's development of Starship has not been without controversy, though. The company is conducting its work amid Boca Chica Village, a small hamlet of retiree-age people.
SpaceX has managed to coexist with the neighborhood for five years, but it recently mailed homeowners offers to buy their properties at three times an independently appraised value for safety and other reasons. Villagers have told Business Insider that much of the community plans to decline the deal due to what they say is an almost irreplaceable location to retire.
However, SpaceX has nonetheless invited many villagers to Musk's presentation event — and some plan to attend.
Source: Twitter
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