5 Facts About SpaceX's Touted Interplanetary Starship That Prove Sci-Fi Is Nearing Reality

Starhopper, an early test prototype of SpaceX's Mars-colonizing Starship spacecraft, flew high into the South Texas skies this week, acing its fourth and final test jaunt. The one-minute flight took Starhopper several hundred feet up and featured a sideways landing to a landing pad a short distance away.

While Starhopper's test missions have been a modest step for SpaceX, they're a precursor to one of the greatest pushes for space exploration, ever since the Cold War space race that saw us land on the moon.

Here are five ways in which SpaceX aims to recapture that spirit with the launch of Starship:

1. A Spacecraft For A New Generation

Designed as the fully-reusable stage 2 of SpaceX's 'Big Falcon Rocket' or BFR platform, Starship is focused around carrying out four primary functions

  • Launching large numbers of satellites into Earth's orbit.
  • Long-range lunar spaceflight.
  • Transporting people and cargo to Mars.
  • Flying to planets and outposts even further beyond.

2. A Manned Mission To Mars

Elon Musk's statement after the StarHopper completed its last test brings about an image that was once nothing but a distant dream of science fiction authors - Mars itself. At the lowest possible estimate, it lies 54.6 million kilometres away. It's so far that light reflected off the planet takes three minutes just to reach our telescopes. It's pretty amazing then, that Musk has made such a claim for his next big project - bringing humanity one step closer to the stars.

3. 100-Passenger Spaceflight Capacity

Another revolutionary thing about this platform is that SpaceX aims to be able to carry up to 100 passengers on its missions. This means that, provided we've been able to make strides in space colonising tech, the world will be able to finally ferry a population back and forth to Mars - bringing the human footprint to two planets for the very first time!

4. Next-Gen Rate Of Progress

It took about an entire generation between the launch of the first satellite to repeat visits to the moon - but ever since we've entered the post-Cold War era, space and rocket development has slowed down immensely - until SpaceX hit the scene. If the company continues to run as per current schedules, it will be responsible for quadrupling the progress of rocket development - after five tests in 2019, the Starship prototype is set for its first suborbital launch in October this year and an orbital test sometime in 2020. Musk claims to have it ready for commercial flights by 2021.

5. High-Speed Interplanetary Travel

Finally, one of the best parts of SpaceX's mission to Mars is that it'll take a surprisingly short amount of time. According to Musk, the mission ought to take around 80 days which is extremely short compared to past missions. NASA's Mariner 4 took 228 days, while ISRO's Mangalyaan took 300 days to achieve the same feat. It's really a testament to Musk's confidence that he believes it'll eventually come down to just 30 days as the technology continues to improve.

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Photo:© Reuters (Main Image)

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