On February 11, at the SpaceX launch conference, Musk revealed the launch plan for 2022. Musk expects SpaceX to make about 50 launches this year, about once a week. And hope that the "starship" can transport a large number of supplies, and build a "Mars City" on Mars that can be self-sufficient.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reportedly gave a highly anticipated speech for the company's Starship Next Generation Launch Vehicle Platform at the company's development facility in Boca Chica, Texas. On Thursday, local time, SpaceX stacked the rocket's superiors on the lower stages through an astonishingly high launch and capture tower. During the event and Q&A session, Musk shared SpaceX's latest developments in Starship, future potential customers, plans for peer-to-peer flights on Earth, and the development of a new engine with a host of upgrade features.
Musk stressed at the start of the event that his main purpose in building the world's largest rocket was to provide "insurance" for life on Earth while exploring other planets.
He went on to share that for Starship, SpaceX will use all the components of its rocket, including its superiors. Starship will also be a fast reusable platform, musk said, and Musk said his company plans to reuse the vehicle in order to land back for reuse within hours of launch.
"If we can complete the delivery of about a million tons of cargo into Earth orbit, then it can easily transport more than 100,000 tons to the surface of Mars." Maybe a hundred and fifty thousand tons, depending on how good the landing system is. I think it would take about a million tons of cargo on Mars to build a self-sustaining city. Musk also stressed that the current starship has the ability to do this.
In the following press question session, Musk reiterated that SpaceX plans to produce at least one Raptor engine per day. Point-to-point travel on Earth will be suitable for long-haul flights and may also help SpaceX develop a rapid launch cadence, which is necessary to reduce the marginal cost of Starship flights. He remains optimistic that costs will improve over time as more flights are conducted and reusability is validated.
Musk said marginal costs could be "as low as a million dollars per flight," while higher emissivity would make fixed costs easier to recover. In addition, he outlined that in a few years, the total cost of launching 100 tons into orbits higher than low Earth orbit (LEO) could be less than $10 million.
In addition, musk is optimistic that the orbital replenishment, which is crucial to NASA's human lunar landing program, will be proven by the end of next year. With regard to Raptor 2, he explained that components such as its turbomachinery, combustion chamber, nozzles and electronics had been upgraded. Mechanically, the rotating parts are more robust, and the internal pipes are welded to each other instead of being connected by flanges. In addition, he also revealed that the cavity pressure of Raptor 2 is 330 bar, which Musk believes can withstand.
Finally, the raptor 2's combustion chamber is the biggest problem spaceX is currently facing, and the company is experimenting with different cooling methods to stop that from happening. The company also conducted multiple start-up tests of several engines for at least 700 seconds.
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