SpaceX’s Starship rocket promises to reduce launch costs from $2,300/kg to $100/kg due to its ability to land gently and be completely reusable.
Starship is a launch system consisting of the Super Heavy launch vehicle and the Starship spacecraft on top. The booster rocket is located on the first stage and the spacecraft carrying people and cargo is on the second stage. The rocket’s mission is to bring the Starship to a point in orbit, then the Starship will continue flying using its engines while the rocket returns to Earth. Both parts are reusable. This makes Starship different from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, with only the first stage and fairing being reused.
Billionaire Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, believes that such a reusable system will reduce launch costs by $10 million. SpaceX is calculating the cost of carrying a kilogram of cargo into orbit with the new Falcon 9 rocket today to be 2,300 USD while in 1981 it was 147,000 USD, and Starship was 100 USD/kg. According to Musk, this number is very impressive. The reason the price is low is because Starship can provide conveyor-like transport power to low Earth orbit.
Since 2012, Musk estimated the Starship program would have a development cost of between $2 and $10 billion. In 2024, SpaceX plans to pour another $2 billion into the rocket system to put Starship into orbit for the first time. The long-term strategic goal of this rocket is to send humanity to Mars, so transporting large amounts of cargo at minimal cost is important. At the same time, Starship can serve many other tasks from transporting satellites to carrying tourists to the Moon.
The uniqueness of Starship
First, Starship can carry huge amounts of cargo. To better visualize the scale, the Starship is half the size of the Eiffel Tower and weighs about 3,000 tons. The rocket’s expected cargo capacity is 150 tons to low Earth orbit and can increase to 250 tons if the booster does not return to Earth. With such a carrying capacity, the entire 400-ton International Space Station (ISS) can be launched into orbit with just two rockets. Starship’s diameter is 9 m, meaning it can launch larger satellites into orbit at a relatively small cost. The James Webb telescope launches into orbit in a folded form and the deployment process requires micron precision, leading to a high chance of mission failure, complex technical solutions and high manufacturing costs, up to $10 billion and lasting decades. Given the Starship’s volume, the problem is easily solved. In addition, station modules in orbit are also easier to deploy (the average diameter of modules on the ISS station is 4.2 m).
The second is the complete reuse of both floors of the Starship. The approach of reusing stages and preparing for new flights was tested on the Falcon 9. Thanks to that, SpaceX was able to reduce launch costs and achieve a near monopoly in the launch services market. However, it is unclear how many times Syarship’s parts can be reused to launch to recover capital.
Third is the ability to land softly. This technology was also applied on Falcon 9 and proved effective when the rocket stage returned to Earth. Vertical landing allows the vehicle to land extremely accurately and gently. Currently, all human spacecraft (Soyuz, Dragon, Starliner) land quite hard on the ground or water. The ability to land gently opens up many potentials: landing people and goods on other planets will be easier and more comfortable, satellites can be transported from orbit to Earth for repair and maintenance, and flying. suborbital between Earth’s continents, producing goods in orbit and returning them to Earth if economically feasible.
Finally, there is refueling in space. During a long-haul flight, even the Starship’s massive cargo capacity may not be enough. Therefore, SpaceX provides in-space refueling capabilities. The spacecraft flies into orbit with maximum cargo and replenishes the spent fuel in the launch operation with the help of a tanker aircraft. However, flying back to Earth from Mars may require refueling directly on the red planet. The easiest way is to launch a few Starships carrying fuel first. Another way is to produce fuel on Mars. Starship uses fuel including methane and liquid oxygen. In theory, both of these components could be mined on Mars.
Possible Starship missions
Lunar Mission: SpaceX received a $2.9 billion contract from NASA under the Artemis program. The Artemis project is a project to return humans to the Moon and SpaceX plays a key role in it. As expected, two versions of Starship include a version carrying people to land on the Moon and a version carrying fuel.
This is a priority contract for SpaceX because NASA also ordered another lander for the Artemis 5 mission from rival Blue Origin. Therefore, completing this mission and beating the competition will ensure SpaceX can continue to profit from NASA’s human-carrying missions. The big challenge is that Starship needs to be licensed to fly people. According to NASA’s requirements, the licensing process requires Starship to launch 15 times.
Carrying cargo into orbit: Another important goal of Starship is to improve SpaceX’s position in the launch services market, creating a stable revenue stream to advance other goals, including missions to Mars. However, Starship must demonstrate to potential customers that its reliability, affordability and frequent launches are more attractive than other rockets like the Falcon 9.
In addition, SpaceX needs to complete the deployment of the Starlink satellite constellation as quickly as possible to have a stable source of revenue from space Internet services. Therefore, it is likely that the first Starship cargo flights will meet SpaceX’s needs, thereby securing the first contract with Sky Perfect JSAT, the company that selected SpaceX’s Starship system to launch the Superbird satellite -September 2024.
Space travel: The cheaper cost of carrying cargo into space also leads to cheaper orbital tourism. First, commercial space stations in orbit will create more opportunities to accommodate tourists. Second, tourists can fly on the Starship itself. For example, Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of payments company Shift4, bought a seat on Starship’s first passenger flight.
Mars Mission: Musk has always dreamed of sending people to live on Mars. Mars is a long-term strategic goal for SpaceX. According to Musk, it costs $100,000 to send a person to Mars. In this respect, Starship is a key step towards carrying people to Mars. The vehicle is large and comfortable enough for long flights, has a larger volume than the ISS, and can carry several people with adequate food, water and oxygen. However, it is unclear how SpaceX will protect passengers during the flight from cosmic radiation.
Suborbital flight on Earth: Another impressive advantage of Starship is its ability to replace aircraft. Thanks to the vertical landing system, the flight between any two points on Earth lasts only 40 minutes. Starship’s large capacity of up to 100 passengers makes such flights profitable and relatively cheap for people.
Impact on the launch services market: Reducing launch costs from the current level of 2,300 USD/kg to 100 USD could become a breakthrough in the development of the aerospace industry. Starship could make spaceflight more affordable for everyone, from explorers to scientists to tourists. Goods such as satellites are not limited in weight or size. At the same time, the deployment of large satellite constellations will be faster, significantly increasing data services from space. Satellite maintenance and refueling also become possible.
Thanks to Starship, people can mine on the Moon and asteroids due to cheaper long-distance flight costs and the ability to launch large systems. In addition, humans can set up solar power plants in space, helping to collect sunlight and transmit energy to Earth.
The 122 m high Starship rocket was successfully launched by SpaceX in the 5th test from Starbase, Texas on October 13 (about 8:25 p.m. same time in Hanoi). During this test flight, the combined Starship/Super Heavy rocket ship system created a miracle by successfully implementing the “grabbing” mechanism on the first try. Specifically, after successfully taking off from the Mechazilla launch tower, the Starship landed in the Indian Ocean and the Super Heavy missile returned, landing precisely near the launch tower and held tightly by the tower’s “chopstick” robot arm.