The starship first flight changes the protagonist.
B4+S20 – The Golden Starship Duo is taking center stage, giving way to a new, stronger Starship duo.
On March 22, Musk delivered the news in a set of interactive tweets, and also revealed some hardcore information.
▲ Lao Ma first responded to the CNBC famous Michael Shetz article claiming: "
SpaceX is set to account for 65% of the global launch load mass this year, and may increase to around 70% as new launch demand is added. So that's not a big change. These figures do not include starships. Roughly calculated, SpaceX has a capacity of 16 tons per launch × 50 launches = 800 tons. The rest of the world is less than 400 tons (mostly in China).
」
We know that starting in 2020, SpaceX has accounted for more than half of the world's annual launch payload mass for consecutive years. This proportion will continue to expand as the number of launches increases dramatically and starships join the launch mission queue.
▲ Lao Ma's next tweet is the focus:
The first starship orbital-class flight will use a second-generation Raptor engine because of stronger thrust and more reliable. Sea level thrust can reach 230 tons or about 500,000 pounds.
Next month we will build 39 launchable Raptors, and after a month of assembly and integration, we hope to conduct orbital-level test flights in May.
Obviously, this tweet reveals several strong facts:
The first flight of the Starship Orbit class will use the second generation of raptors
（Raptor V2）。
This means abandoning the first generation of raptors and abandoning the B4+S20 first flight.
You know, from the first successful jump of Starhopper in 2019 to 150 meters, including SN5, SN6, SN8, SN9, SN10, SN11, SN15, B3 various ignition and various flights, until S20 underwent 4 static ignition tests, all using the first generation raptor V1. The old horse suddenly said that abandoning the first generation of raptors, of course, means abandoning the B4+S20 starship combination and no longer performing the first test flight.
To further clarify this momentous news, another journalist, Tesmanian columnist Evelyn, asked bluntly: "Will the starship S20 and super heavy B4 still perform orbital flights?"
The old horse replied with one word: New. Obviously, the new combination is enabled and the original combination is deprecated.
「
Next month, 39 raptors will be built that can be used for launch
。 」
This sentence means that the starship new combination Raptor configuration: 6 starships + super heavy 33. The first flight of the starship's orbital class directly enables the take-off of a super heavy rocket equipped with 33 Raptors.
In other words, the launch thrust is 7590 tons, which is 40% more thrust than the B4. The B4, equipped with 29 first-generation raptors, has a total thrust of only 5,365 tons. However, this is still a lot more than the thrust of the first flight version of SLS, 3976 tons.
After another month of assembly and integration, it is hoped that an orbital-level test flight will be carried out in May.
Of course, this is purely a "Musk timeline" - the usual optimist, fast-forward first flight schedule. Let's use it as a time reference line.
So here's the question:
When exactly is the first flight time of the more reliable starship?
Which group of starships will make the first flight?
Prepare for more than half a year of B4+S20, why change it?
What exactly is Musk's deep reason?
How different are the new starship combinations from the old ones?
Please refer to the follow-up push article of the three-body gravitational wave for details.