Starship (rocket)

Starship test flight in December 2020

Starship (formerly BFR ) is a large rocket project of the US space company SpaceX . The planned rocket consists of the Super Heavy booster and an upper tier , also called Starship , which will also serve as a spaceship . The declared goal is the development of a fully reusable and therefore very cost-effective carrier system for over 100 tons of payload, which in the long term should replace all other missiles operated by SpaceX: the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets as well as the manned spaceshipDragon 2 . Above all, the Starship should enable manned missions to the moon and Mars. In the extreme south of Texas , SpaceX built a launch site and a factory that has been manufacturing Starship prototypes since late 2019 . A first test flight of the entire system into earth orbit is planned for summer 2021. Experience has shown that SpaceX cannot meet such deadlines.

use

The aim of the development of the Starship missile system is that it can take over all missions that have been flown by Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy so far: commercial satellite launches, launches for government organizations, supply flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and the further development of the SpaceX satellite constellation Starlink . With full and more frequent reusability, SpaceX would like to achieve significantly lower operating costs than with the Falcon 9. It will have a transport capacity for very heavy payloads of up to 150 t, but at least over 100 t in low earth orbits (LEO) and 21 t in one Geostationary transfer orbit aimed at. In addition, the concept provides for such large loads to be brought into higher orbits or an escape path after several refueling processes in the LEO .

Launch of a manned starship (artist's impression)

The Starship spaceship should also be able to land on other celestial bodies both with and without an atmosphere and be able to take off from there again. In April 2021, NASA chose the Starship as the lunar module for the planned Artemis 3 mission . In the long term, SpaceX is also aiming for regular manned flights to Mars.

The Japanese textile entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa wants to be the first Starship space tourist to fly around the moon together with a group of artists in 2023 .

SpaceX proposed long-haul suborbital flights around the world as another possible application . This should make it possible to reach any point on earth in less than 60 minutes.

history

prehistory

According to his own account, the entrepreneur Elon Musk founded the company SpaceX with the aim of enabling the colonization of another planet.

SpaceX first presented designs for rockets for very large payloads in 2010 during a meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Among other things, it was announced there that the company was working on an enlarged version of the Merlin engine , which powers the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets. The new engine - it was called the Merlin 2 - was to be operated with rocket kerosene (RP-1) like the Merlin and power the first stage of the new large rocket. For the upper stage, the Raptor engine was planned, which should be operated with liquid hydrogen (LH2).

Mars Colonial Transporter

In 2012, the designs for the Raptor engine were changed. It should now run on liquid methane and be used in both the first and second stages. For this purpose, the planned engine was enlarged. The Merlin 2 project has been dropped.

In 2013 SpaceX announced for the first time that it was working on concepts for a transport system to Mars, then under the name MCT (Mars Colonial Transporter). These were studies that were heavily revised several times in the following years.

First tests of components of the Raptor engine began in 2014.

Interplanetary Transport System (ITS)

Starship and Super Heavy (right) compared to Saturn V (center) and Falcon Heavy (left)

In September 2016, Musk presented the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) at the 67th International Astronautical Congress, the basic concept with which a manned flight to Mars should be made possible for the first time . In the same month, a Raptor engine was ignited on a test stand for the first time. The entire ITS vehicle should have a height of 122 m and be able to transport a payload of up to 550 t in low earth orbit. The spaceship should have a diameter of 12 m. The aim was to use the system to transport 100 people to the planet Mars in an average of 115 days . According to Musk's concept, the first manned Mars mission should start in 2024 at the earliest.

BFR / Starship and Super Heavy

On September 29, 2017, Musk presented a revised rocket concept called BFR ( Big Fucking Rocket , a little later by SpaceX also called Big Falcon Rocket ) at the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide , Australia . The BFR concept has been significantly reduced in size compared to the ITS draft. As part of these changes, the targets for the Raptor engine have also been scaled down. Instead of the initially planned thrust of 3050 kN (3500 kN in a vacuum), it should only generate 1700 kN (1900 kN in a vacuum).

Since then, the design of the rocket has changed several times. The planned overall length was increased slightly and the thrust of the Raptor engine was increased to 2000 kN.

The following table shows the two designs from 2010 (Falcon X and Falcon XX) as well as the newer concepts compared to the Saturn V, the rocket of the Apollo lunar program .

	Saturn v	Falcon X	Falcon XX	ITS (2016)	BFR (2017)	BFR (2018)	Starship - SH (2019)
height	110 m	93 m	100 m	122 m	106 m	118 m
diameter	10.1 m	6 m	10 m	12 m	9 m
Takeoff mass	2,934 t	k. A.	k. A.	10,500 t	4,400 t	k. A.	5,000 t
Payload (LEO)	133 t	38 t	140 t	300 t (550 t 1 )	150 t (250 t 1 )	100 t (n / a 1 )	> 100 t (advertised) 150 t (targeted)
Start thrust	33,851 kN	16,000 kN	45,360 kN	128,000 kN	52,700 kN		62,000 kN
crew	3	k. A.	k. A.	max. 100

(Maximum values ​​are marked with a yellow background; ¹without reuse. )

In November 2018, Elon Musk announced the renaming of the BFR to Starship and Super Heavy .

concept

Reusability

A core element of the concept is the full reusability of all rocket components and thus a very cost-effective operation of the rocket. As the number of re-uses increases, the costs per start decrease, since the production costs are distributed over a larger number of uses. Only the variable costs z. B. for fuel and maintenance are charged in full. The planning for the Interplanetary Transport System was aimed at a 12-time reusability of the manned interplanetary spaceship, a 100-time reuse of a version modified as a tanker and up to 1000 launches of the first stage. For comparison: The Falcon 9 had a target of 10 reuses, of which 9 have been achieved so far.

Basic skills such as return flight and upright landing of a rocket stage using its own engines ( propulsive landing ) and on landing legs have already been tested with the Grasshopper test vehicle and then brought to series production with the Falcon 9 rockets.

Series production

SpaceX is already successfully using series production in relatively large numbers for the current rockets. Due to the resulting economies of scale , identical components can be produced more cheaply; In addition, design errors can be identified and eliminated more quickly. In the Falcon 9, for example, nine identical, relatively small Merlin 1D engines are used in the first stage as well as a largely identical unit in the upper stage, which mainly differs in the enlarged exhaust nozzle . For the Falcon Heavy, 27 identical Merlin engines are used in the first stage and one in the upper stage. The first stage Super Heavy is to receive approx. 28 identical Raptor engines, as well as 6 more the upper stage Starship.

fuel

Although liquid hydrogen (LH2) in connection with liquid oxygen (LOX) delivers a higher specific impulse than methane with LOX, SpaceX decided against this fuel combination. The background is a targeted methane production on Mars. In addition, LH2 has a significantly lower density (≈71 kg / m³) than liquefied methane (≈420 kg / m³), ​​which requires larger and heavier tanks. The RP1 fuel used in the Falcon 9 could not be produced on Mars with the current state of the art. Another disadvantage of RP1 is that the engines are sooty that they can be reused.

Cryogenic fuels in the boiling temperature range are usually used. With Starship and Super Heavy, on the other hand - as with the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy - the fuel should be used super-cooled, i.e. at temperatures close to freezing point. This leads to an increase in the density of the fuel and allows 10–12% more fuel mass to be accommodated for a given tank volume, which in turn increases the possible payload. It also reduces the risk of cavitation in the fuel pumps and thus increases their service life. On the other hand, it also increases the viscosity of hydrocarbons such as methane, which makes it difficult to pump the fuel.

While a return flight from the lunar surface should be possible without refueling, the fuel required for a return flight from Mars would have to be produced on site. The SpaceX concept envisages breaking down the water ice present on Mars and splitting it into oxygen and hydrogen by means of electrolysis . The oxygen would then be liquefied and stored. Methane will then be produced from the hydrogen together with carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere in the Sabatier process . This would also have to be liquefied and stored. The water produced during the Sabatier process would in turn be fed into the electrolysis. SpaceX would like to generate the energy required for fuel production with a solar power plant .

First level ( Super Heavy )

Drawing of the first stage of the ITS, a predecessor of the Super Heavy, on landing

The first stage, known as Super Heavy , is to be equipped with around 28 Raptor engines, all of which will be used for take-offs from Earth with full payload. Together they would deliver up to 6200 tons of thrust. An inner group of seven engines should be mounted pivotably and take over the thrust vector control . The first stage is supposed to fly back to earth after it has been separated . SpaceX would like to try to land them in a safety gear directly on the launch tower on the launch pad in order to enable a quick restart. This would also save the weight and cost of landing legs.

The original planning included carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) for the load-bearing structure and the tanks . From the end of 2018, there was a change to a stainless steel construction. The construction is single-walled, that is, the tank shell is also the outer shell of the rocket; In addition, the oxygen and methane tanks are only separated by a simple sheet metal bulkhead.

The tanks are to be pressurized - also in the upper stage - with the help of quantities of methane and oxygen, which are heated in the engines and then fed back into the tanks. During the first attempt to land with a Starship prototype, however, it turned out that the pressure generated in this way in the separate methane tank that is used during this flight phase (the so-called header tank ) was not sufficient. For this reason, at least for the time being, a change was made to conventional pressurization with helium .

Upper School ( Starship )

Tank sections of the Starship prototypes SN10 and SN11

The planned engine design of the upper stage - the Starship (formerly BFS for Big Falcon Spaceship or Big Fucking Spaceship ) - changed several times. When the production of airworthy prototypes began, SpaceX decided to use six Raptor engines, three of which were identical to those of the first stage and three vacuum-optimized engines - known as RVac for short - with a much larger nozzle. As with the Super Heavy, a thrust vector control with an inner group of individually swiveling engines is planned, around which the other rigid engines are arranged. Changes in position during space flight are to be made with smaller control engines , which are also supplied with liquid oxygen and methane from separate high-pressure tanks.

As with the Super Heavy, the outer shell developed from a CFRP design to a construction made of four millimeter thick sheets of stainless chromium-nickel steel (type 304L) welded together. This material is much more stable than CFRP at very high and very low temperatures and can largely reflect the infrared portion of solar radiation in space. In addition, steel is much cheaper and easier to process than CFRP. The underside of the Starship should be provided with thin ceramic heat protection tiles.

In contrast to conventional missile designs, the upper stage of the Starship system is permanently installed with the payload section, so that both form a unit. The diameter is 9 meters and the maximum payload mass is planned to be over 100 tons. Full use of the fuel tank and the transport capacity for interplanetary flights is to be made possible by further spaceships (tankers) transporting the fuel in portions into earth orbit and refueling the spaceship there for a flight to Mars, for example.

The current Starship design has four side, wing-like braking and control surfaces for landings on planets with atmosphere. Two small canards are attached to the front (at the start, upper end) of the spaceship, two larger ones to the rear end. These flaps work according to the same principle as the arms and legs of a parachutist: While the spaceship falls with the "belly" (the side provided with heat protection) down, the flaps are moved independently of each other to make it horizontal or the desired Keep the angle of attack. In the final phase of the landing approach, the ship turns 90 degrees around the transverse axis , flies backwards and lands like the Falcon 9 with engine braking, but on six instead of four extended landing legs. When returning from interplanetary flights, the Starship is supposed to land with atmospheric braking, i.e. before landing, it is to be immersed several times in the earth's atmosphere in order to gradually reduce the kinetic energy without overheating.

The upper level is planned in at least four different versions: as a spaceship for the transport of people and freight, as a lunar module , as a tanker and as a "large-capacity freighter".

• Spaceship: According to preliminary planning for 2019, the pressurized cabin should have around 1000 m ^{3 of} space under atmospheric pressure , more space than the main deck (775 m ³ ) in an Airbus A380 . A first concept for Mars flights sees inter alia. 40 small cabins and large common areas for passengers. Behind the cabin there should be a payload section that is not under pressure.

Starship Lunar Module

• Lunar Module : With this concept, SpaceX participates in NASA's Artemis program . The Starship is supposed to transport astronauts back and forth between an Orion spaceship or the space station Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway and the lunar surface. The heat shield and the control flaps for the atmosphere flight are omitted, since the Artemis space travelers are to return to earth with an Orion capsule.

• Tanker: For now, SpaceX plans to use normal cargo spaceships as tankers. The development of a dedicated tanker is only planned for a later date.

• Freighter: The freight version of the Starship is to have a large bow hatch for the transport of satellites or space station modules. SpaceX specifies the maximum diameter of the payload as 8 meters, with a maximum height of 17.24 meters. The usable volume of the cargo hold should be around 660 m ³ .

Refueling in orbit

For inexpensive interplanetary transport, Elon Musk considers refueling the spaceships in orbit to be indispensable. SpaceX has already implemented a technology for fully automatic rendezvous and coupling with the spaceship Dragon 2 . With the Starship, two ships - one of which is a tanker - are to be coupled to each other at the stern using the same elements with which they sit on the first stage and are also refueled before take-off.

SpaceX is working with the Glenn Research Center and the Marshall Space Flight Center at NASA to develop the refueling technology . NASA is also funding the project with an amount of $ 53 million.

Preliminary technical data

Status: autumn 2020

The design of Starship and Super Heavy is still in flux. If the project is successful, the transport performance will depend, among other things, on the exact engine power and the curb weight; both are not yet certain. The first prototype of the Starship ( Mk I ) weighed 200 tons; The aim is initially a maximum of 120 tons, in the long term less than 100 tons. The system is advertised as having a “100+ t” maximum payload. SpaceX has decided on a diameter of around 9 meters through the design of the rocket factory and launch facilities in Boca Chica .

Preliminary data sheet

	Whole rocket	First level (Super Heavy)	Second stage (Starship)
Payload ( LEO )	reusable: over 100 t single use: k. A.
Payload ( GTO )	Single flight, reusable: 21 t refueled , reusable: over 100 t single use: ns. A.
Payload for landing	50 t
Hull diameter	9 m
height	approx. 120 m	approx. 70 m	approx. 50 m
Empty weight			≤ 120 t
Engines		28 Raptor engines	6 Raptor engines
thrust		approx. 72,000 kN
Tank capacity	around 5,000 t	3,400 t, of which approx. 3 ⁄ 4 O 2	1,500 t, of which approx. 3 ⁄ 4 O 2

implementation

financing

The development costs for the originally planned ITS were estimated at around 10 billion US dollars in 2016, the costs for the BFR initially at 2–10 billion US dollars about $ 3 billion was targeted. The financial means for the development of the rocket are to be generated on the one hand through commercial satellite launches, supply flights to the ISS and space tourism , and on the other hand through income from the operation of the company's own Starlink satellite constellation . The moon passenger and billionaire Yusaku Maezawa also makes a significant contribution . NASA initially contributed $ 135 million to the Artemis program and a further $ 53 million to the Tipping Point technology funding program . NASA is contributing $ 2.89 billion to the development of the Starship lunar module. This amount also includes the implementation of one unmanned and one manned test moon landing. By concentrating on Starship and Super Heavy as the only future SpaceX rocket platform, capital and development capacities were also freed up, since hardly any effort is required for the further development of Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Dragon.

Prototype construction and tests

Test of a Raptor prototype on September 25, 2016.

A scaled-down prototype of the new Raptor engine was tested for the first time in 2016. In 2017, a prototype of the oxygen tank for the originally planned ITS was manufactured and tested from a carbon fiber composite material (CFRP) optimized for cryogenic applications.

In 2018, the development of the BFR spacecraft began and - on a site at berth 240 of the Port of Los Angeles - the construction of the first spacecraft prototype made of CFRP. SpaceX prepared to build a factory on the port site; the rockets produced would have been shipped from there to the launch sites. Starship and Super Heavy are too big for longer land transports.

The starhopper

In the winter of 2018/19, the company relocated the rocket assembly to the SpaceX South Texas Launch Site in Boca Chica (Texas) and presented an unfinished aircraft there in steel construction. SpaceX gave up its location at the port of Los Angeles; the special equipment for the CFRP spaceship production was scrapped.

In the summer of 2019, the test vehicle, now known as the “ Starhopper ”, took place in Boca Chica two flights up to a height of around 20 and 150 meters respectively. The sixth Raptor engine built was used for both. At the same time, the construction of the two prototypes Starship Mk I and Starship Mk II (short for Mark 1 and Mark 2 ) began. They were built by teams in Texas ( Mk I ) and Florida ( Mk II ) working in competition with one another. The Starship Mk I was then destroyed during a refueling test in December 2019, the construction of the Mk II was subsequently stopped. The next prototype, Starship SN1 (serial number 1) and SN3 built in Boca Chica , also broke when refueling. In the Starship SN4 , a Raptor engine was installed and briefly ignited for the first time in May 2020. A little later this prototype exploded after another engine test run.

Elon Musk inspects the remains of the Starship SN8

On August 4, 2020, about a year after the Starhopper test flights, the SN5, the first Starship prototype, took off on a successful test flight up to 150 meters in height. Another successful 150-meter test followed on September 3rd with the SN6 . In December, SN8 demonstrated various flight maneuvers at greater heights as planned, in particular the controlled horizontal fall with flap control, but landed hard and exploded. The crash landing was caused by a design flaw; the engines did not receive enough fuel during braking due to insufficient tank pressure. The Starship SN8 had three Raptor engines for the first time; all previous prototypes had only one engine. In February 2021, the next test flight took place with the SN9 , which, like the SN8, was initially successful, but then ended with a crash landing and an explosion due to an engine failure . During the following test flight with the prototype SN10 , the Starship landed upright, but due to insufficient engine thrust and the failure of several landing legs, it landed too hard, caught fire and exploded after a few minutes.

Numerous more test flights are planned; several prototypes are under construction.

Take-off and landing areas

For test flights of the Starship prototypes, there are two launch racks and a landing pad on the SpaceX South Texas Launch Site . A launch pad for orbital flights has also been under construction at the same location since summer 2020 . The second location is the Kennedy Space Center in Florida , where preparations began in 2019 for the construction of a Starship launch pad at the historic Launch Complex 39A . All lunar flights of the Apollo program had started on the LC-39A . The existing Landing Zone 1 on the neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station would also be used for Starship landings ; Super Heavy is supposed to land on an unmanned platform in the Atlantic .

In order to reduce noise pollution and the dangers for residents in South Texas, SpaceX is planning an “offshore spaceport” with floating take-off and landing platforms off the Texas Gulf Coast as a long-term solution. To this end, in July 2020 the company acquired two disused oil drilling platforms for 3.5 million US dollars each , which will be converted into take-off and landing facilities. The platforms were named Phobos and Deimos , after the two moons of Mars . SpaceX wants to land Super Heavy directly in a tentacle on the launch platform to enable a quick restart.

Starts

Atmospheric test flights

As of March 31, 2021

Serial No.	Date ( UTC )	rocket	payload	Altitude (km approx.)	Remarks
1	26th July 2019	Starhopper	-	0.02	Success , test flight with landing
2	27th August 2019	Starhopper	-	0.15	Success , test flight with landing
3	4th August 2020	Starship prototype SN5	-	0.15	Success , test flight with landing
4th	September 3, 2020	Starship prototype SN6	-	0.15	Success , test flight with landing
5	December 9, 2020	Starship prototype SN8	-	12.5	Partial success , test flight with crash landing Too little engine thrust on approach due to insufficient tank pressure; the Starship smashed to the ground.
6th	February 2, 2021	Starship prototype SN9	-	10	Partial success , test flight with crash landing One of the engines did not fire during landing; the Starship smashed to the ground.
7th	March 3, 2021	Starship prototype SN10	-	10	Partial success , test flight with crash landing Several landing legs did not lock into place and the engine that was active on the final approach developed too little thrust. The Starship hit too hard, was damaged in the process, caught fire and exploded a few minutes later.
8th	March 30, 2021	Starship prototype SN11	-	10	Failure , test flight with explosion The Starship exploded immediately after the engines fired for the approach.

Orbital launches

SpaceX is aiming for the following Starship / Super Heavy starts:

• first orbital test flight with a Starship / Super Heavy prototype in the 3rd quarter of 2021
• Test flight with unmanned moon landing in 2022 on behalf of NASA
• Dear Moon - manned orbit around the moon with Yusaku Maezawa and other passengers in 2023
• unmanned flight to Mars 2024
• Artemis 3 - moon landing with two NASA astronauts in 2024
• manned flight to Mars at the end of 2026
• Launch of the second and subsequent generations of Starlink satellites with up to 400 satellites per launch

According to its own information, SpaceX already has start-up orders for which the company can decide, in accordance with the contract, whether they will be carried out with a Falcon rocket or the Starship. The Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA asked 2,019 SpaceX due to a possible start of Luvoir telescope on, a proposed for the end of the 2030s astronomy major project.

SpaceX's previous goals and project plans have mostly turned out to be too optimistic; There were regular delays of several years in the case of major projects. In particular, the dates mentioned for a manned flight to Mars and for the Artemis 3 lunar mission are viewed as unrealistic.

Similar new developments

The NASA developed with the Space Launch System (SLS) a similarly large launch vehicle, which also manned missions to the moon and to enable to Mars. The SLS, which is based on space shuttle rocket technology, will not be reusable and will cost more than ten times the start-up costs of the Starship system with the same payload. With the Langer Marsch 9 (CZ-9), China is also planning a super heavy lift rocket for flights to the moon and Mars.

The American space company Blue Origin is also developing the New Glenn , a very large launch vehicle (96 meters high, 7 meters in diameter) with a reusable first stage. Missions in earth orbits and to the moon were named as applications. The New Glenn is said to offer only about a third of the Starship payload capacity.

The most powerful launch vehicles currently available or under development for low earth orbit (LEO) transport are:

rocket	Manufacturer	stages	Side booster	max.payload (LEO)	max.payload ( GTO )	reusable	interplanetary missions	manned missions	First flight
CZ-9	CALT	3	4th	140 t	66 t	No	planned	not planned	approx. 2030
SLS block 1B	Boeing	2	2	105 t	not specified	No	planned	planned	2025 (planned)
Starship	SpaceX	2	-	> 100 t 1	21 t (> 100 t 2 )	Completely	planned	planned	2021 (planned)
SLS block 1	Boeing	2	2	95 t	not specified	No	planned	planned	2021 (planned)
Falcon Heavy	SpaceX	2	2	64 t	27 t	First stage, side booster, payload fairing	Yes	not planned	2018
New Glenn	Blue Origin	2	-	45 t 1	13 t 1	First stage	possible	planned	2022 (planned)
Angara A5V	Khrunichev	3	4th	37.5 t	12 t	No	planned	planned	2027 (planned)
Delta IV Heavy	ULA	2	2	29 t	14 t	No	Yes	No	2004
Vulcan	ULA	2	6th	27 t	13.6 t	No	planned	planned	2021 (planned)
CZ-5	CASC	2-3	4th	25 t	14 t	No	Yes	not planned	2016

¹Maximum payload when reusing all reusable components. A larger payload would be possible without reuse.

² When refueling in orbit.

Web links

Commons : SpaceX Starship  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Starship on the SpaceX website
• What is Elon Musk's Starship? BBC News, Jan. 8, 2021
• Elon Musk's 43 minute speech and presentation at the 68th annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2017
• Information on the planned launch site for Starship and Super Heavy at the Kennedy Space Center as part of the environmental impact assessment. SpaceX, July 2019 (PDF; 21 MB)
• Dear Moon Project website
• Robert Zubrin : Elon Musk's Plan to Settle Mars . In: National Review , February 22, 2020.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stephen Clark: Elon Musk wants to move fast with SpaceX's Starship . Spaceflight Now, September 29, 2019.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Elon Musk wants to send a Starship to orbit as soon as July . CNET , March 17, 2021: "Musk, of course, is notorious for failing to meet his reliably ambitious timelines".
3. ↑ ^{a b} Progress slow at SpaceX's planned South Texas spaceport . In: 512tech. November 21, 2017: “They lay out very aggressive plans in terms of time schedules that are very rarely if ever met. There's kind of an expectation that anytime SpaceX gives you a date, you always have to assume that there is going to be a few years of delay. "
4. ^ ^{A b} First Private Passenger on Lunar BFR Mission. In: YouTube / SpaceX. SpaceX, September 17, 2018, accessed September 20, 2018 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Presentation by Elon Musk on September 29, 2017 at the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia (YouTube video). Tank made of a newly developed CFRP material ("new carbon fiber matrix") from 04:30, refueling from 27:00, replacement for all other SpaceX systems from 28:20, fuel production from 33:50, planning of the Mars flights from 37 : 00, intercontinental traffic from 40:00.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Starship Update . Presentation by Elon Musk on September 29, 2019 (YouTube video)
7. ↑ ^{a b c d} Starship on the SpaceX website, accessed December 8, 2020.
8. ↑ ^{a b} As Artemis Moves Forward, NASA Picks SpaceX to Land Next Americans on Moon . NASA press release April 16, 2021.
9. ^ ^{A b} Christian Davenport: Elon Musk's SpaceX wins contract to develop spacecraft to land astronauts on the moon. In: The Washington Post . April 16, 2021, accessed April 16, 2021 . 
10. ↑ SpaceX IPO Will Have To Wait Until Regular Trips To Mars . Investors Business Daily , May 22, 2018.
11. ↑ Jeff Foust: SpaceX signs up Japanese billionaire for circumlunar BFR flight. In: Spacenews. September 17, 2018, accessed September 18, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Chris Bergin: Point-To-Point transportation gains boost via NASA / Virgin Galactic SAA . Nasaspaceflight.com, May 5, 2020.
13. ↑ Dear NASA: What's in It for Me? . Wallstreet Journal , December 13, 2020.
14. ↑ Thomas Burghardt: Preparing for “Earth to Earth” space travel and a competition with supersonic airliners . Nasaspaceflight.com, December 26, 2020.
15. ↑ Max Chafkin: The Companies of Elon Musk. ( Memento of January 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). In: Inc.com , December 1, 2007, Musk Company Datasheet.
16. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Spaceflight101.com: SpaceX - Launch Vehicle Concepts & Designs. Retrieved October 21, 2017 . 
17. ^ Robert Zubrin: A Critique of the SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System. In: The New Atlantis. October 21, 2016.
18. ↑ ^{a b} SpaceX: Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species , presentation by Elon Musk on September 27, 2016 (YouTube video).
19. ↑ 68th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) , 2017.
20. ↑ "Big Fucking Rocket" mission to Mars , tagesschau.de, September 29, 2017.
21. ↑ "Big Fucking Rocket" on the way to Mars soon? , sueddeutsche.de, September 30, 2017.
22. ↑ Rocket plans by Elon Musk: Around Earth in 60 Minutes . In: Spiegel Online. 29th September 2017.
23. ↑ Elon Musk: SpaceX can colonize Mars and build moon base. In: The Guardian. 29th September 2017.
24. ^ Full Replay: 1st National Space Council Meeting with VP Mike Pence . space.com, October 5, 2017.
25. ↑ Artist S Rendering Of The Big Falcon Rocket . spacex.com, accessed October 23, 2017.
26. ↑ ^{a b c d} Elon Musk: Making Humans a Multi-Planetary Species. In: New Space. Volume 5, No. 2, June 2017, pp. 46-61. (pdf).
27. ↑ ^{a b c} SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary (pdf). (PDF) Retrieved October 19, 2017 . 
28. ↑ SpaceX Starship Landing Vehicle Leads & Lags In NASA Lander Proposal Evaluation . Wccftech, May 6, 2020.
29. ^ ^{A b c} Katy Smith: Draft Environmental Assessment for the SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy Launch Vehicle at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). (PDF; 20.9 MB) NASA , August 1, 2019, p. 27 , accessed on August 20, 2019 (English). 
30. ↑ SpaceX's Starship May Fly for Just $ 2 Million Per Mission, Elon Musk Says . Space.com, November 6, 2019.
31. ↑ Twitter message from SpaceX, September 29, 2019.
32. ↑ Elon Musk renames BFR spacecraft to 'Starship Super Heavy' . inquirer.net, November 20, 2018, accessed December 9, 2018.
33. ↑ Mike Wall: SpaceX's Starship May Fly for Just $ 2 Million Per Mission, Elon Musk Says . Space.com, November 6, 2019.
34. ↑ Elon Musk: SpaceX starting on 'Super Heavy' rocket booster to power Mars trip . Cnet, September 1, 2020.
35. ↑ ^{a b c d} What is Elon Musk's Starship? In: BBC News. January 8, 2021, accessed January 21, 2021 . 
36. ↑ ^{a b} SpaceX’s Next Idea: to Catch Super Heavy Boosters With the Launch Tower . Universe Today, January 11, 2021.
37. ↑ ^{a b} SpaceX targets bold new 'catch' strategy for landing Super Heavy rockets . Space.com, December 30, 2020.
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