Washington / Cologne – A new era begins in space travel! The driver is once again billionaire and visionary Elon Musk (50), and not the big space agencies. With his new Starship spaceship, Musk is not only planning a trip to the moon. He also wants to bring the first humans to Mars with it. And that in the foreseeable future.
During these days the new rattor engines of the mega rocket were checked. Starship is ready for the first test flight.
BILD presents the space plans of Musk and his company Space-X.
Things are really happening at his private space train station in Boca Chica, Texas: Musk had his technicians flown in from all over the country using private jets. Hundreds of employees have been working on the new Starship for weeks.
Because: The monster spaceship should be launched for the first time in November.
A picture that promises the future: The two huge parts of the Starship rocket were assembled in Boca Chica (Texas)Photo: Elon Musk / Twitter
What is the Starship?
The Starship is a huge spaceship with space for up to 100 astronauts, which has now been mounted on the propulsion rocket for the first time.
The technical data is overwhelming:
- Spaceship and rocket are together 120 meters high at a Nine meters in diameter. That is a record, there has never been such a gigantic and powerful spacecraft.
- To get this monster into Earth orbit, you need a lot of strength: Take care of it 33 engines of the Raptor class alone in the drive stage and others six engines in the “Starship”.
- The number of horsepower for rockets can hardly be quantified, but it should be more than 30 million horsepower be. An unimaginable amount!
- A mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid methane is used as fuel.
- The Starship is said to be up to 150 tons payload can transport to Mars. For comparison: The Beluga from Airbus only manages around 50 tons.
Volker Schmid, who heads the astronaut missions at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), on BILD: “We are currently experiencing the return to the Apollo times. The Saturn V rocket of that time was similarly powerful and large. You need such a large launcher to bring so many people or loads to the moon or Mars. ”
After all, the vehicle can transport around 100 tons of load.
The special thing about the system is that it can be reused, as was the case with the much smaller Falcon rockets from Space X, which are already bringing astronauts to the International Space Station. Both the upper level, i.e. the Starship, and the launcher can be used multiple times.
Another novelty: The Starship can be refueled in space. Urgently necessary for a return flight to Mars.
A gigantic crane from the German manufacturer Liebherr has hoisted the spaceship onto the launcher, and the first launch into our earth orbit should soon be possible. With around 30 million horsepower.Photo: picture alliance / Newscom
When will it be tested?
The first test flight of the assembled spacecraft is to take place unmanned, in November. An enormous time pressure. A flight is planned from the west to the east coast of America in lower earth orbit.
▶ ︎ A Starship test earlier this year resulted in a gigantic explosion on landing. “The new test flight would be a success if our spaceship did not explode when it took off and the newly constructed launch platform with a 140-meter-high tower was dismantled,” said Elon Musk.
Volker Schmid: “Such failures are planned in Elon Musk’s concept. That’s fine too. However, there shouldn’t be too many of them, otherwise the entire project could fail. “
Because as the most important donor, Nasa Elon Musk sits on the neck. Schmid: “The pressure on the Space-X team is immense.”
Can Musk make the jump to the moon and mars?
DLR expert Volker Schmid: “The plans are very ambitious, but the team is working tirelessly on them. Everything now depends on the learning curve and technical advances. For such a project you also need an ambitious plan and tight deadlines. It was the same with the Apollo program. At that time, US President Kennedy put enormous pressure on. But one thing is clear: the moon and Mars can now be reached again for us humans. Hats off, this is a huge achievement. I wish we had a project like this in Europe too. “