Look, it's amazing to be rich, it's like having a magic wand that can detonate rockets at will.
SpaceX's Starship is like a galloping horse, although the first two orbital-class launches ended in tragic explosions, but now, the third starship has proudly stood proudly on the launch pad of Boca Chica Starport, just like a tall and heroic war horse! The first orbital-class test flight of the starship was on April 20 local time, and only in the past month, the third starship has been ready to spread its wings and fly on the launch pad
。 If it does launch in early 2024, it will mean that the last flight is only two to three months, or even four or five months, and such a rhythm is simply more amazing than the first flight to the last flight.
The current situation is that the Starship 2nd Class, which is preparing to carry out the third orbital-class test mission, has been transferred to another place on December 14, and the transfer vehicle is also decorated with Christmas elements such as snowmen, giving people a sense of gloomy wind. In addition, on December 18, the first stage of the Sanfei Star ship, the super-heavy B10, has also been transferred to the launch pad.
The follow-up work, as in the previous two starships, will be combined several times, and then disassembled, and then carried out multiple static ignition tests, and the whole process may last for a month or two. According to the data released by SpaceX on November 20, 4 Starships have been built and 4 more are under construction.
The most critical thing is that it is said that the production of Raptor 2 engines has reached an astonishing 200 units, starting from 2023 and reaching an average daily output of one unit by 2027, with an annual output of up to 300 units, plus the Raptor 3 that is already being tested, they provide a solid backing for the test flight of Starship.
However, despite the lightning-fast speed of Starship, the entire Artemis program of the United States to return to the moon may continue to be delayed.
According to a report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office GAO, the Artemis III mission, the first manned lunar mission in the entire Artemis program, is unlikely to be launched in 2025, and the reasons for the delay of the Artemis program include the starship has not yet been put into orbit, as well as reports on the in-orbit docking and space refueling of the starship HLS, the design of the lunar spacesuit, etc., especially Boeing's space launch system SLS carrier fire
Arrow, despite its successful maiden flight on November 16 last year, sending the Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit, has yet to cure its slow-paced and expensive problems. Oh, and those starships are like dragons forged into gold, and each starship costs up to $3 billion to develop, which is even more expensive than building a lavish palace.
But in fact, the cost of these big guys' rocket bodies is only a mere $100 million, which can be described as rich and capricious! Don't look at the glamorous appearance of those rockets, their fuel costs are even lower than methane and liquid oxygen. In comparison, Boeing's SLS is a "gold-swallowing monster", a little fire will burn $2 billion, and the development cost is as high as $23 billion.
It's like a gluttonous monster that devours a lot of money, but doesn't do anything about it, so that the whole Artemis project keeps releasing pigeons over and over again. One might wonder why the United States has SpaceX and Boeing, Starship and SLS at the same extreme.
In fact, the manufacturing capacity of the United States is still online, but SpaceX is like a galloping mustang, while Boeing and Starship are more like a lazy elephant. Why is there such a completely different industrial monster in the United States? Not only that, but SpaceX's working philosophy and methods are also impressive.
Whenever Musk and his team are busy, even the CEO will work overtime with employees 24 hours a day, which is unimaginable in other companies in the United States. It can be said that SpaceX is like a ray of sunshine in American industry.
Not because of a curse, but because in the eyes of some politically correct environmental groups in the United States, SpaceX is simply a thorn in the eye, making them feel that the human space age is no more than a bird and a fish. This kind of overly radical thinking is slowly killing innovation and hope.