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Engineering / Re: Interesting stuff about SpaceX Starship (hate the name)
« Last post by Nemesis on March 20, 2024, 05:53:30 pm »IFT4 now showing as April 2024 (no day of the month). Lets see if the FAA will issue another license that quick.
Now showing as May 2024. Either they expect delays due to needed modifications to address the issues revealed or more time for the FAA to be satisfied (maybe both).
I'm prone to be extremely critical of Musk, but I suppose "eventually" is key to that claim. Saturn's LEO payload for the Apollo lunar missions was 140 tons for CM, LEM and fuel fifty years ago, so 200 tons seems doable.... eventually.
Don't forget that you lose a significant amount of payload by going for reusable. Also potentially lowering cost/kg significantly.
Musk might be well advised to keep the current size for rockets that need to be fully refueled in orbit and the larger size for orbital cargo and fuel deliveries. 200+ tons of fuel delivered by a V3 to a V2 configuration could refuel it in 6 missions (1200 tons fuel if dry).