SpaceX unveils steel Starship prototype

By Daniel Bishton on 2 October, 2019

Images shared by SpaceX show the Starship prototype being assembled at its Texas facility.

The first images of SpaceX’s Starship Mk 1 prototype have been shared, a vehicle which SpaceX founder Elon Musk says could take humans to Mars.

The gleaming, 50-metre tall spacecraft weighs 200 tons and could commence a test flight within months, according to Musk.

Never one to shy away from a bold claim, he added that pairing the Starship with a Super Heavy booster stage would give Starship a payload capacity of 99,790 kilograms and be capable of achieving orbital flight within six months, according to Gizmodo.

The Starship is designed to carry cargo and humans to Earth orbit, lunar orbit and perhaps eventually — Mars.

Starship will provide affordable delivery of significant quantities of cargo and people, essential for building Moon bases and Mars cities pic.twitter.com/0BImZP1qmM

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 29, 2019

The shared images show clear development and a resemblance to concept images, relative to the earlier Starhopper prototype which was used to test the Raptor rocket engines.

Three Raptors on a Starship pic.twitter.com/UrRiD62EVk

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2019

The Starship’s gleaming 1950s sci fi look comes in part from its 301 stainless steel construction, which Musk says has excellent temperature resistance and has kept production costs down. SpaceX says they will rapidly iterate new Starship prototypes and new versions of the Raptor engine, with a target of one new engine per day by early 2020.

Learn more about Starship in SpaceX’s live update from September 29 below.