Washington: The first orbital test of the world’s most powerful launch vehicle Starship has been postponed. Now it will take at least 48 hours to reset the rocket. The stainless steel Starship is built by SpaceX, the company owned by Elon Musk, the world’s second-richest businessman.
This launch is significant because only this spacecraft will make humans interplanetary, i.e. the first time a human will set foot on a planet other than Earth. Musk wants to take humans to Mars by 2029 and establish a colony there. This spaceship will be able to take humans to any corner of the world in less than an hour. This starship transportation system is about as tall as a 40 story building. Can carry a weight of 150 metric tons.
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and super heavy rockets are collectively called ‘Starships’. It is a reusable transportation system. Starship will be launched from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas. After launch, it will become the most powerful rocket in the world. This system will be able to carry 100 people to Mars at once. Musk wanted to launch the Starship on April 10, but could not get permission from the US Federal Aviation Administration i.e. FAA at that time.
The entire launch will last 90 minutes. About 3 minutes after lift-off during the test flight, the booster will separate and land in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship will orbit Earth at an altitude of 150 miles, or 241.40 kilometers, and then splashdown on the coast of Hawaii, meaning the starship will not attempt a vertical landing in this test.
The success of this test will bring Musk closer to his dream of building a city on Mars. Although Musk has now said that Starship has only a 50 percent chance of success on its first orbital mission, he also emphasized that SpaceX is building several Starship vehicles at a site in South Texas. These will be launched repeatedly in the coming months and there is about an 80 percent chance that one of them will reach orbit this year.
Starship spacecraft and super heavy rockets together form a reusable transportation system, capable of in-orbit refueling. The system could also refuel from natural H2o and Co2 resources present on the Martian surface. Speaking of sending humans to Mars, the Starship will be launched with a super heavy booster. The booster will then separate and return to Earth.
Now the refueling tanker will be launched from Earth. The tanker will dock with the starship in orbit and return to Earth after refueling. The starship will now begin its journey from Earth orbit to Mars. The starship will enter the Martian atmosphere at a speed of 7.5km/sec and then slow down. The heat shield of this vehicle is designed for multiple entry. After deceleration the starship will land on Mars. It would take about 9 months to reach Mars from Earth and the same amount of time to return.
Elon Musk says about the need to settle a colony on Mars – ‘The event of the end of life on Earth can be the cause of the end of humanity, but if we build our base on Mars, humans can survive there.’ Millions of years ago, the dinosaurs on Earth also ended due to an extinction event. While Professor Stephen Hawking also said in 2017 that if humans want to survive, they will have to expand in 100 years.
Starship’s ultimate goal is to take humans to Mars. Apart from this, the Starship will also act as a lander in NASA’s mission to send humans to the Moon. Musk also plans to use the starship for space tourism. Musk has promised a trip around the moon to Yusaku Maizawa, a Japanese billionaire. Starship will transport humans to any corner of the world within 60 minutes.
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