Texas evening wind, starry sky hugging, starships reflecting each other, the old horse speaks of the next generation of space artifacts. The second high-profile starship media conference arrived today as scheduled. As always, Musk did not disappoint, from personal speeches to interactive Q&A, the old horse has burst out a lot of material...
At about 8:00 p.m. U.S. time on February 10, 2022 (at about 10:00 a.m. Beijing time on February 11), located in front of the orbital launch pad of the Boca Chica starship base in the southernmost tip of Texas, Musk, who had just won the honor of academician of the American Academy of Engineering, took the stage in a black trench coat and waved to hundreds of media people on the scene, behind which was the two-degree combination, 119-meter-high starship combination B4+S20.
The starship show lasts 80 minutes and is divided into two parts, the first half is really Musk's "personal concert", with his signature speech style, a large section to explain the starship information flow, can be described as decent, all-encompassing. In the second half of the Q&A interactive Q&A session, various media threw out a series of hotter, sharper and more specialized questions, which made Lao Ma and Pan Duan a lot of materials. (The content involved is basically converging with the previous conjecture of the three-body gravitational wave) The second starship show conjecture, what will Musk break?
In order to facilitate the understanding of readers, the three-body gravitational wave re-sorted the content musk talked about, not in chronological order, but according to the circle of key points as the structure, dry goods are listed as follows -
○ Newly determined starship main data
The super heavy rockets are finally equipped with 33 second-generation Raptors (37 given at the first starship launch in 2019); the arrow height is 69 meters (68 meters in the 2019 version); the diameter is 9 meters; the propellant capacity is 3400 tons of force (3300 tons of force in the 2019 version); the thrust is 7590 tons of force (7500 tons of force in the 2019 version); and the landing method is captured by air capture with the capture arm (the 2019 version uses the traditional Falcon 9 landing recovery).
The starship is finally equipped with 9 Raptor engines (3 sea-level versions + 6 vacuum versions), a height of 50 meters, a diameter of 9 meters, a propellant capacity of 1200 tons, a thrust force of 1500 tons, a payload capacity of 100-150 tons, and an orbital refueling version of the starship with a propellant capacity of ~200 tons.
▲ Raptor evolution comparison: the left side is the second generation of birds of prey, and the right side is the first generation of birds of prey
○ The second generation of raptor development update
Compared with the first generation of Raptor thrust of 185 tons, the second generation of Raptor thrust increased to 230 tons, and simplified design, removed or merged many designs, and ensured that parts are more robust and durable, and easier to mass-produce, so as to meet the requirements of rapid reuse of starship systems. With regard to Raptor capacity, it is expected to reach 5 to 6 units next week and 7 units per week next month. Regarding the production capacity of starships, it is hoped that one starship and one super heavy rocket will be produced every month by the end of this year. As for the major problems encountered by raptor development before, what is the problem? Musk replied: The problem of melting the engine combustion chamber. Efforts are currently being made to find a solution, which is expected to be resolved soon. Musk's internal harsh words: The Raptor has encountered major problems, which may lead to the bankruptcy of the company
○ Starship Orbital Class First Flight Schedule
Rarely, Musk did not give a specific timetable. However, he has repeatedly stressed that he is confident that he will be able to launch the starship into orbit this year.
○ What should I do if the FAA does not approve the starship environmental procedures?
SpaceX got a vague hint that the FAA could approve the starship base environmental assessment procedures in March. However, Musk himself said that he did not know much about the FAA environmental approval process. When asked by the media: If the FAA gives a negative EIA result, what if the starship base is suspended?
Musk responded: The reality is that we are not affecting the environment here. Optimistically, we will get FAA approval. From a regulatory point of view, this kind of thing will not be delayed for too long, for a long time. Even if the worst plan is not approved by the FAA, SpaceX will transfer the launch starship, use 6 to 8 months, transfer to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida 39A to reserve the launch site, and build a new starship launch base.
However, Musk finally added that SpaceX does not want to break the existing launch operations in Cape Florida because of the starship test flight, so it is still the first choice here.
Boca Chica, Texas, was chosen because of a combination of factors, including lower latitudes, better launch directions, and sparsely populated areas.
○ Did the starship really not launch an escape system?
About whether the starship system is equipped with a launch escape system? Musk reiterated the view that the starship does not have a separate launch escape system (just as the aircraft does not have a full-crew flight escape system, the focus is on creating the high safety of the starship itself), but the starship thrust system will be designed to be able to quickly fly away if the super heavy rocket launch fails.
○ Start building a sea launch platform?
With regard to the two super offshore platforms (Phobos and Phobos), it is intended to build at least one launch tower and capture tower first, and it is expected that a sea launch platform with launch capability will be completed by the end of this year. Regarding the interior design of the starship, there is no more to share for the time being, and more energy is currently being put into launching into orbit.
○SpaceX future planning timeline
This year's SpaceX space launch target is 50. Future Starship System Launch Targets: Super Heavy rockets are reused every 1 hour; Starships are reused every 6-8 hours. The starship orbit refueling takes only 30 minutes. Based on SpaceX's existing docking capabilities and experience, it has the ability to master the orbital refueling of starships in the future.
Musk claimed that the use efficiency of starships will be the best of all launch systems in the history of spaceflight. Since the starship system is a fully reusable launch system, the launch cost is only 5 to 10% of the Saturn V, but the thrust is twice that of the latter. The old horse confidently gave 2-3 years that the cost of each launch of the starship was less than $10 million. It could be only a few million in the future, or even as low as $1 million years from now.
It is precisely based on such a low launch cost and rapid reuse of operational capabilities that Musk will have the courage to repeatedly emphasize that the starship system is the holy grail of future space transportation, making human beings a necessary condition for cross-planetary civilization. Building a self-sufficient city on Mars in the future will require at least about 1 million tons of supplies, and starships have the ability to undertake interstellar transport.
Toward the end of the press conference, Musk raised his arms and shouted: Let's make this real! (Make it all come true!) The applause from the audience echoed. At this moment, the 119-meter-tall starship combination that needs to be seen is looking up at the stars, pointing straight to the moon...