Showing posts with label Starship development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Starship development. Show all posts

Saturday, October 10, 2020

SpaceX Starship SN8 belly flop maneuver by Bart Caldwell

Picture of the Day 10/10/2020 - SpaceX's Starship SN8 test vehicle performing its "skydiver" belly flop maneuver in the sky above Boca Chica, Texas by American space artist Bart Caldwell, known on Twitter as Neopork. The render is so detailed that it looks almost as an actual photo!

SpaceX Starship SN8 belly flop maneuver in the sky above Boca Chica, Texas by Bart Caldwell (Neopork)

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

SpaceX Starship SN5 150m hop

On August 4, 2020 SpaceX's prototype Starship SN5 successfully performed 150 meter hop with one Raptor Engine at SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.

Starship Super Heavy is a fully reusable two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle and spacecraft currently developed by leading New Space company SpaceX.

Space illustrator Tony Bela captured the path of the flight in the sky from LabPadre's Sapphire Cam:
Flight path of SpaceX's Starship SN5 150m hop by Tony Bela

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Slides from SpaceX Starship 2019 update presentation by Elon Musk

Today SpaceX CEO and lead designer Elon Musk provided an update of SpaceX's Starship design. Here are slides and animations from his presentation (open link in new tab to view image in full resolution).
Basic info about the new Starship:
Basic info about the SpaceX's new Starship
Layout of Starship Raptor engines:
Layout of SpaceX's Starship Raptor engines
Super Heavy booster layout:
SpaceX's Super Heavy booster layout
Starship comparison with Starhopper and Millennium Falcon:
SpaceX's Starship comparison with Starhopper and Millennium Falcon

Monday, September 23, 2019

Possible SpaceX Starship Mk 1 propellant tank layout by Michel Lamontagne

SpaceX's Starship Mk 1 prototype, being built at company's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, is seeing some rapid development in recent days (prior to Elon Musk's promised update on September 28). New hardware is being attached to the prototype and we can start some educated guesses of the final Starship Mk 1 design which will differ quite substantially from the Starship renders SpaceX provided as recently as in May.

Canadian design engineer Michel Lamontagne has posted his speculative graphics of the possible Starship Mk 1 propellant tank and fin layout on NASASpaceFlight.com forum (where he is known as lamontagne). More of his spaceship renderings here.
Images from the construction site indicate the header tanks (meant for propellant needed for landing) are installed into the front cone of Starship Mk 1:
SpaceX Starship Mk 1 propellant tank layout by Michel Lamontagne

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Possible cover for SpaceX Starship Mk 1 flap hinges spotted

Seeing most recent hardware delivered at SpaceX's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, where the Starship Mk 1 prototype is being built, Reddit user u/avibat is speculating that the new hardware is stainless steel cover for Starship's fin hinges to protect them during re-entry into atmosphere. One of the hinges has already been attached to the main body of Starship (spotted by BocaChicaGal from NASASpaceFlight.com forum) and right now they are attaching the fin to it (the process can be watched online through LabPadre's 24/7 live stream).

Possible cover for SpaceX Starship Mk 1 flap hinges spotted
Fin hinge Pipe attached to one side of Starship Mk 1 (photo by BocaChicaGal):
Fin hinge attached to SpaceX Starship Mk 1 (photo by BocaChicaGal)
Attaching first fin to SpaceX's Starship Mk1 (photo by BocaChicaGal):
Attaching first fin to SpaceX Starship Mk1 (photo by BocaChicaGal)

Friday, August 23, 2019

Speculations on SpaceX's Starship new fin configuration

Seeing most recent hardware delivered at SpaceX's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas, where the Starship Mk 1 prototype is being built, Reddit user u/ModeHopper has done some pretty impressive pixel-counting & calculations, speculating that the new hardware is Starship's rear fin or its part. And William Falconer-Beach has already made some renders with several possible configurations of the new fins. More of his Starship renders here.

Speculation on SpaceX Starship new fin configuration

Saturday, March 9, 2019

Dawn of a new Space Age

Photo of SpaceX's Starhopper at sunset by Jaime Almaguer. The Starhopper (test vehicle of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship) is currently being built in SpaceX's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas and scheduled to fly first test flights in March/April 2019.

Photo of SpaceX's Starhopper at sunset on Boca Chica by Jaime Almaguer

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Photo of SpaceX's Starhopper (official)

Today Elon Musk tweeted the photo of the actual Starhopper (the shorter test vehicle of SpaceX's stainless steel Starship) built in SpaceX's Boca Chica launch facility in South Texas and sheduled to fly first test flights in March/April.

SpaceX real Starhopper (photo from Elon Musk)

Monday, September 17, 2018

Official schematics for Big Falcon Rocket v2018 by Elon Musk, SpaceX

SpaceX Big Falcon Ship v2018 schematics
Today SpaceX CEO and lead designer Elon Musk provided an update of SpaceX Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) design and announced the first BFR Lunar mission, orbiting the Moon in 2023.

Here are video, schematics and images from his presentation (open link in new tab to view image in full resolution). Animations of the Big Falcon Rocket from presentation HERE.



Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) and Big Falcon Ship/Spaceship (BFS) v2018 schematics:


SpaceX Big Falcon Ship v2018 schematicsSpaceX Big Falcon Rocket v2018 schematics

SpaceX Big Falcon Ship v2018 schematics - rearSpaceX Big Falcon Ship v2018 landing profile

SpaceX Big Falcon Rocket Lunar mission trajectoryInside SpaceX Big Falcon Rocket manyfacturing mandrel

Big Falcon Rocket launch:


SpaceX Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) v2018 launchSpaceX Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) v2018 launch

Friday, September 29, 2017

"Making life multiplanetary". Official schematics for BFR by Elon Musk, SpaceX

SpaceX BFR Mars transportation architecture
Today SpaceX CEO and lead designer Elon Musk provided an update of SpaceX vision to make life multiplanetary and colonize Mars. Previous name for the colonization class SpaceX booster&spaceship - "Interplanetary Transport System" - has been dropped and now Musk referred to it by the old acronym - BFR*.

Here are video, schematics and images from his presentation (open link in new tab to view image in full resolution):



Lunar surface missions:


SpaceX BFR Lunar surface missionsSpaceX Moon Base Alpha

SpaceX Mars mission architecture and Mars Base Alpha buildup:


SpaceX BFR Mars transportation architectureSpaceX Mars mission early timeline

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Official schematics for Interplanetary Transport System by SpaceX

Today SpaceX CEO Elon Musk finally detailed his plan of building an Interplanetary Transport System (formerly known as "Mars Colonial Transporter") for colonization of Mars and beyond. Here are some schematics and images from his presentation.
His full presentation you can watch here and download as PDF here.

SpaceX Mars Colonial Transporter schematic 01 - compared to humanSpaceX Mars Colonial Transporter schematic 02

SpaceX Mars Colonial Transporter schematic 03 - compared to other rocketsSpaceX Mars Colonial Transporter schematic 04 - compared to Saturn V rocket

SpaceX Mars Colonial Transporter schematic 05 - Raptor engineSpaceX Mars Colonial Transporter schematic 06 - Booster

SpaceX Mars Colonial Transporter schematic 07 - Booster engine configurationSpaceX Mars Colonial Transporter schematic 08 - Ship