Elon Musk just unveiled the latest prototype of SpaceX’s Starship as he outlined a rapid development timeline to take humans to the moon and Mars.
In the remote village of Boa Chica, Texas, that serves as SpaceX’s rocket development site, the billionaire entrepreneur showed space enthusiasts and reporters animations of Starship performing moon and Mars missions and even commented that the next six months could see the spacecraft’s first orbital flight with space missions with humans on board following next year.
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Speaking between the newly-assembled Starship and Falcon 1, Musk said, “This is basically the holy grail of space. The critical breakthrough that’s needed for us to become a space-faring civilization is to make space travel like air travel.”
Starship is the top half of the proposed interplanetary system that tops out at 387 feet tall (118 meters). The rocket is designed to carry dozens of humans to the moon and Mars, with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa slated as being Starship’s first private passenger.
Located just a few miles from the Mexican border, Boca Chica is at the center of SpaceX’s experimental test program for Starship for the past 3 years. All that testing has made some residents, who live a mile away, a bit nervous.
“I think the actual danger to the Boca Chica village is low but it’s not tiny,” Musk said. “So probably over time it’d be better to buy out the villages, and we’ve made an offer to that effect.”
However, a few of the residents have still rejected SpaceX’s buyout offer even though they’re offering a non-negotiable amount that is three times the market value.
In July, testing began for Raptor, a next-generation rocket engine, that saw a three-legged prototype named Starhopper test-launching twice, getting as high as 500 feet (152 meters) before landing.
Musk’s drive to get to the moon and Mars as quickly as possible jives well with NASA’s stated goal of getting humans to the moon by 2024 via its Artemis program. The Trump administration initiated the accelerated deep-space program in March so that will see NASA working closely with a couple of US space companies to first build a long-term presence on the moon before jump off to colonize Mars.
SpaceX was tapped to develop lunar landing vehicles and help develop a rocket, such as Starship, that can be refueled in space, an “important technology to aid sustained exploration efforts on the Moon and Mars,” NASA said.
SpaceX and Boeing received $6.8 billion in funding to come out with competing rocket and capsule systems so that astronauts can finally launch from American soil for the first time since 2011. However, delays and testing mishaps have hampered the development of both astronaut capsules.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement, “I am looking forward to the SpaceX announcement tomorrow. In the meantime, Commercial Crew is years behind schedule. NASA expects to see the same level of enthusiasm focused on the investments of the American taxpayer. It’s time to deliver.”
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