Elon Musk Has Just Shared The Stunning Concept Artwork For The Design Of SpaceX’s New Starship Test Vehicle
While we all know that SpaceX has been hard at work with their top secret design for the Starship test vehicle, which is currently being constructed in Boca Chica, Texas, Elon Musk has just teased the public by sharing the stunning concept artwork for the design of the company’s completed Starship.
According to Engadget, the artwork for SpaceX’s Starship shows a sleek and shiny silver stainless steel beauty, straight from the 1950s world of science fiction. Musk noted that the test vehicle of the Starship is set to look just as shown in the artwork, but of course when it comes to the fully operational model, there will be windows, which aren’t pictured in the new artwork of the rocket.
As the Inquisitr recently reported, at the end of December, Elon Musk previously shared another image of the Starship spacecraft which will eventually be carting up to 100 passengers to Mars, and announced that it would be constructed out of stainless steel just like the Atlas rockets from the 1950s, but with a completely different architectural style, of course.
“Stainless steel is correct, but different mixture of alloys and new architecture. Actually, the only significant design element in common with early Atlas is stainless steel and we’re using a different alloy mix.”
Musk also noted that the Raptor engine for the SpaceX Starship had been “radically redesigned.”
Starship test vehicle under assembly will look similar to this illustration when finished. Operational Starships would obv have windows, etc. pic.twitter.com/D8AJ01mjyR
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 5, 2019
Elon Musk has stated that with the proper cryogenic treatment, the stainless steel building materials for the Starship spacecraft won’t be too weighty.
“Usable strength/weight of full hard stainless at cryo is slightly better than carbon fiber, room temp is worse, high temp is vastly better.”
The first hopper engine for the Starship has been very nearly completed in California, and according to Musk, it “probably fires next month,” as the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Starship was once known as the BFR, but has also gone under a host of different names, which includes the Interplanetary Transport System and the Mars Colonial Transporter, and in a tweet, Musk described the spacecraft as actually being comprised of two parts.
“Technically, two parts: Starship is the spaceship/upper stage & Super Heavy is the rocket booster needed to escape Earth’s deep gravity well (not needed for other planets or moons).”
SpaceX is still hopeful that they will be able to launch the test Starship some time this spring, in either March or April, which is much earlier than had previously been anticipated, with past estimates ranging many months after spring, and Elon Musk has said that he will eventually be sharing more about the technical aspects of the spacecraft after the initial test flight has successfully been carried out.
