On Saturday, September 28, SpaceX founder Elon Musk,presented the fully assembled Starship Mk.1 spacecraft at its test facility in Boca Chica, Texas,and shared the latest updates on the Starship launch system, including a timeline for when the first test flights, commercial flights, and manned flights will begin. Apparently, Musk has promised that in 2020 he will start taking passengers into space.
Musk discussed the challenges of trying to successfully escape Earth’s gravity and go into space in a profitable manner. Alsoacknowledged that 11 years have passed since SpaceX made its first successful launch with its Falcon 1 rocket (after three failed attempts).But as Musk went on to say, the learning curve was very steep at the time and it took a lot of work for them to get to the point where they could retrieve their rockets and make them reusable.
“We were very naive, obviously, very naive on many levels back then because we really tried to get back to the first stage. So the first stage had a parachute and we thought, ‘okay, just take the parachute out when it’s back in the atmosphere and it will land somewhere in the ocean and we’ll fish it out of the ocean with a boat.’ This does not work”.
That milestone proved to be the difference between SpaceX, a startup founded six years earlier (in 2002), that went bankrupt and became the powerhouse it is today. At Saturday’s presentation, they took the opportunity to install a Falcon 1 rocket alongside the Starship Mk.1 prototype to provide a sense of scale to attendees and as a visual reminder of how far the company has come.
Standing beneath a towering Starship Mk1 stood a prototype of SpaceX’s massive reusable launch system. The new version of Starship (and its Super Heavy booster) will be able to transport up to 100 people to the Moon, Mars or other destinations in space or around the Earth, said the one who is also CEO of the electric car manufacturer Tesla. The ship will have a height of 118 meters and will be completely reusable, with rapid changes.
So this will be the rocket that will launch billionaire Japanese businessman Yusaku Maezawa and a handful of artists on a trip around the moon in the 2020s.
“I think this is the most inspiring thing I’ve ever seen,” Musk told a crowd of about 200 SpaceX employees, guests and reporters outside of Brownsville. “Wow, what an incredible job from such an excellent team to build this incredible vehicle. I am so proud to be working with such a magnificent team.”
Destination: Mars
Musk has stated for quite some time that SpaceX’s primary goal, since its founding in 2002, has been to help make humanity a multi-planet species. The company has developed reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, as well as reusable Dragon cargo pods and a new Crew Dragon spacecraft for astronauts. It has launch pads in Florida, California, and now Boca Chica, where the company began building the proving ground in 2014.
But Mars , according to Musk, remains his true target.
“This is the fastest path to a self-sufficient city on Mars,” Musk said, referring to the Starship-Super Heavy architecture.
Perhaps overly optimistic, however, Musk has a strong case for being positive right now. After many years of hardship, SpaceX has achieved repurposing with Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy and has inspired other aerospace companies to follow a similar path.
Achieve manned exploration of Mars, is getting closer.
