![]() In 2019, SpaceX began to refer to the entire vehicle as Starship, with the second stage being called Starship and the booster Super Heavy. The high melting point of Starship's stainless steel allows the tiles to be lighter and thinner. This idea was abandoned in 2019 in favor of reusable heat shield tiles similar to those of the Space Shuttle. The high temperature at which 300-series steel transitions to plastic deformation would eliminate the need for a heat shield on Starship's leeward side, while the much hotter windward side would be cooled by allowing fuel or water to bleed through micropores in a double-wall stainless steel skin, removing heat by evaporation. Musk cited numerous reasons for the design change low cost and ease of manufacture, increased strength of stainless steel at cryogenic temperatures, as well as its ability to withstand high heat. In December 2018, the structural material was announced to change from carbon composites to stainless steel, marking the transition from early design concepts to the current design of Starship. By 2017, the large rocket was temporarily re-dubbed the BFR and had multiple versions announced, such as cargo, tanker and crew. The design was made of carbon fiber, would have been over 10,000 tons when fueled and carry 300 tons to low Earth orbit, while hoping to be fully reusable. In 2016, the name was changed to Interplanetary Transport System, as the rocket was planned to travel beyond Mars. SpaceX called it the Mars Colonial Transporter, as the rocket was to transport humans to Mars and back. Later in 2012, Elon Musk first publicly announced plans to develop a rocket surpassing the capabilities of their existing Falcon 9. In November 2005, before SpaceX had launched its first rocket the Falcon 1, CEO Elon Musk first mentioned a long-term and high-capacity rocket concept able to launch 100 tons to low Earth orbit, dubbed the BFR. Main article: SpaceX Starship design process History Early design concepts (2012–2018) The second flight test of the vehicle happened on 18 November 2023, but while the stages successfully separated, the Super Heavy booster exploded seconds into the boostback burn, while the upper stage was lost nearly eight minutes after launch. The first flight test of the full Starship system took place on 20 April 2023 and ended four minutes after launch with the destruction of the test vehicle. Development follows an iterative and incremental approach involving frequent, and often destructive, test flights of prototype vehicles. The Starship system aims to achieve frequent space launches at low cost. The Starship spacecraft is protected during atmospheric reentry by its thermal protection system, using a 'belly flop' maneuver where the spacecraft turns from a horizontal into a vertical position, then lands using its engines. The booster is designed to use its engines to slow itself down before it is caught by a pair of mechanical arms attached to the launch tower. Both stages are constructed primarily of stainless steel, a material chosen as an alternative to a series of prior designs. The booster and spacecraft are both powered by Raptor engines, which burn liquid methane and liquid oxygen. Starship consists of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft. Starship is primarily meant to enable SpaceX's ambition of colonizing Mars. A lunar lander variant of Starship is to land astronauts on the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis program. SpaceX plans to use Starship vehicles as tankers, refueling other Starships to allow missions to geosynchronous orbit, the Moon, and Mars. The Starship space vehicle is designed to supplant SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, expand SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation, and launch crews to both low Earth orbit and Mars. Starship is intended to be fully reusable, which means both stages will be recovered after a mission and reused. It is the heaviest, tallest and most powerful space launch vehicle to have flown into space. Starship is a two-stage super heavy lift launch vehicle under development by SpaceX.
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