Starship successfully assembled, 120 meters high, musk: dream come true

Share the QR code with wechat scanning code to friends and circles of friends news on August 7. On Friday, local time, American space exploration technology company SpaceX integrated the Starship prototype S20 with the super heavy rocket booster prototype B4 for the first time. When asked how he felt about witnessing the scene, Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, said that the dream had finally come true Figure 1: on August 6, 2021, SpaceX first integrated the Starship prototype S20 into the super heavy rocket booster B4 SpaceX is developing a starship to send humans and goods to the moon and even Mars. The prototype of the starship is about 160 feet (48.8 meters) high, equivalent to a 16 story building, and is made of stainless steel. SpaceX plans to launch starships using super heavy rocket boosters, which are about 230 feet (70 meters) high. The overall height of the Starship integrated with the super heavy rocket booster is more than 120 meters Figure 2: SpaceX launched the super heavy rocket booster B4 to prepare for the company's first orbital starship launch in the past year, SpaceX has conducted many short-range test flights of starship prototypes, but entering orbit represents the next stage of the company's test. In May this year, SpaceX announced its first orbital flight plan, which will be launched from the company's facility in Texas and then splashed down off the coast of Hawaii. SpaceX is always preparing for orbital flight tests of starships and super heavy rocket boosters, although it needs to pass the environmental review of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before its launch Figure 3: during the integration operation on August 6, 2021, SpaceX crane hoisted the Starship prototype S20 on the top of the super heavy rocket booster B4 musk outlined four "important projects" that SpaceX plans to complete in the next two weeks to prepare for the orbital launch of the Starship. He said that SpaceX needs to add "the last insulation tile" on the spacecraft, add "thermal protection" for the Raptor rocket engine on booster B4, complete the work of "ground propellant storage tank", and add a quick disconnect manipulator on the top of the recently built launch tower, which connects the power line and fuel line to the rocket before launch although SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Falcon heavy rocket can be partially reused, Musk's goal is to make the Starship fully reusable and more similar to commercial aircraft. The turnaround time between two flights is very short, so the only main cost is fuel Figure 4: on August 6, 2021, SpaceX integrated the Starship prototype S20 into the top of the super heavy rocket booster B4 an important aspect of making the Starship fully reusable is to improve its durability to survive the fierce re-entry into the earth's atmosphere. To solve this problem, SpaceX uses small hexagonal insulating tiles. Now the Starship S20 has been covered by thousands of insulating tiles. Musk pointed out that "98% of the thermal insulation tiles of the Starship S20 have been covered", and "the remaining thermal insulation tiles need to be processed into unique shapes" NASA has been paying close attention to the progress of the Starship project. In particular, earlier this year, NASA awarded SpaceX a controversial contract worth $2.9 billion, hoping to use SpaceX's spacecraft to send astronauts to the lunar surface Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's Science Mission official, said he would continue to pay attention to the progress of starships. He wrote on Twitter: "I've always been following this project. I'm excited about SpaceX achieving this milestone and can't wait to see it fly!" musk replied to zubchin in another tweet, once again preaching the power of starships. "Thanks to its huge size and the ability to send scientific instruments into space, starships will support new scientific missions," he wrote& nbsp; （ Small)

2023-03-22 10:04:40

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