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The Starship tanker is designed to transport approximately 100 tonnes (220,000 lb) of propellant to low Earth orbit. [22] [better source needed] In April 2021, NASA selected the SpaceX Lunar Starship with in-orbit refueling for their initial lunar human landing system. [23]
When stacked and fully fueled, Starship has a mass of approximately 5,000 t (11,000,000 lb), [c] a diameter of 9 m (30 ft) [17] and a height of 121.3 m (398 ft). [6] The rocket has been designed with the goal of being fully reusable to reduce launch costs; [18] it consists of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage [19] which are powered by Raptor and Raptor Vacuum engines.
The Starship Human Landing System program includes the development and operational use of several Starship spacecraft variants by SpaceX, including the Starship HLS ship—optimized to operate on and in the vicinity of the Moon—as well as a Starship depot that will store propellant in Earth orbit, and the Starship tanker designed to fly multiple trips to orbit from Earth's surface to ...
The project, which is under the oversight of the ESA, will use OffWorld's technical expertise in robotics with a technology demonstration mission slated for launch to the moon in 2027 as part of SpaceX's first Starship HLS mission for the Artemis program. [63] An unknown number of refueling flights, estimated to be in the high teens, will be ...
In June 2020, SpaceX started constructing a launch pad for orbital Starship flights. In August and September 2020, SN5 and SN6 conducted a 150 m (500 ft) hop test. [93] [94] This was followed by a 12.5 km (7.8 mi) flight test in December 2020, using SN8. Despite a full successfully ascent burn, SN8 failed during the landing attempt, due to low ...
[8] [9] [10] In 2023, the first flight test of Starship made it SpaceX's fourth orbital-class launch facility, following three launch locations that are leased from the US government. SpaceX conducted a groundbreaking ceremony on the new launch facility in September 2014, [11] [5] and soil preparation began in October 2015.
Starship flight test 1 was the maiden flight of the integrated SpaceX Starship launch vehicle. SpaceX performed the flight test on April 20, 2023. [ 5 ] The prototype vehicle was destroyed less than four minutes after lifting off from the SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica , Texas . [ 6 ]
As a successor to SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, Starship is intended to perform a wide range of space missions. For missions to further destinations, such as geosynchronous orbit, the Moon, and Mars, Starship will rely on orbital refueling; a ship-to-ship propellant transfer demonstration is expected to occur in 2025.