Can SpaceX’s Starship Really Take Us To Mars?
With Starship now SpaceX’s top priority, could this rocket finally take us to the red planet?
On May 29th 2020 in Texas USA, a rather unassuming 394 ft cylinder full of oxygen and methane exploded in a brilliant fireball. It was a prototype of a new spaceship that apparently could deliver something NASA has failed to do. Take us to Mars. At least that is what Elon Musk is saying it will do. According to CNBC soon after the failed engine test that lead to the explosion, Musk sent an internal email to the 7,00 employees of SpaceX that the starship is now their №1 priority. If this is true, once starship is fully developed, will it usher in a new age of transport and make us an interplanetary species?
Well, yes and no. Because it is all a little more complicated than just a very big rocket.
Let’s deal with the elephant in the room first. This engine test ending in failure actually isn’t a failure. The whole point of these tests is to stress test the whole machine and find parts that break, identifying areas that need to be engineered better. So as long as SpaceX can find the component which failed, they can make the design better. After all, if you are strapping people into this machine (Musk wants to launch up to 100 people at a time) you want it to be tested and safe! Particularly if it is a commercial operation with…
