Elon Musk unveils Starship rocket’s new ‘giant dome’ – one month after the original shot 500 feet in the air when the craft EXPLODED during a cryogenic pressure test
- SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, shared the progress of the Starship rocket’s dome
- Musk explained he and his team have been working overnight to complete it
- The structure blew off the rocket prototype in November during a test
- The dome will be used on Starship’s Mk3 prototype set to take humans to Mars
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and his team have been tirelessly working to complete the Starship rocket’s new giant dome after the craft blew its top during a cryogenic pressure test last month.
The billionaire shared videos on his Twitter page showing the assembly of the massive structure, stating it is the most difficult part of the craft to build.
Musk noted that he worked all night with SpaceX engineers in Boca Chica, Texas in a bid to get dome production ready for Starship’s Mk3 prototype, which is set to take astronauts to Mars.
Musk shared multiple videos – one on Friday and the other on Monday – showing the progress of Starship’s massive dome at a site.
The clips show three huge structures that will be combined to make a complete top for the Starship rocket.
Scroll down for videos
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared videos on his Twitter page showing the assembly of the massive structure, stating it is the most difficult part of the craft to build
‘Was up all night with SpaceX team working on Starship tank dome production (most difficult part of primary structure). Dawn arrives,’ Musk wrote with the video shared on Friday.
The clip shows the sun rising on his team on the Texas site, as they work on the dome.
And the second video appears to have been taken in the early morning hours.
‘Almost three now,’ reads the post.
‘Boca team is crushing it! Starship has giant dome’.
One clip (left) shows the sun rising on his team on the Texas site, as they work on the dome. And the second video (right) appears to have been taken in the early morning hours. ‘Almost three now,’ reads the post. ‘Boca team is crushing it! Starship has giant dome’
The first full-sized Starship prototype exploded last month while undergoing a cryogenic pressure test at SpaceX’s facilities near the South Texas village of Boca Chica.
Videos of the explosion shared on social media show plumes of smoke billowing out from the top of the 165-foot spacecraft.
According to onlooker LabPadre, who shared a video on YouTube, the top shot up almost 500 feet in the air as cryofluid engulfed the complex.
Fortunately there were no injuries during the event.
Following the explosion, Musk shared on Twitter that the company will now turn its attention to Mk3 – a newer prototype of the Starship spacecraft that is designed for orbit, which is where the dome will find its new home.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared on Twitter that he and his team have been tirelessly working to complete the Starship rocket’s giant dome after the craft blew its top last month during a cryogenic pressure test
Musk has kept the public up-to-date with the progress of the structure, sharing the development on Twitter
The Starship prototype exploded last month while undergoing a cryogenic pressure test at SpaceX’s facilities near the South Texas village of Boca Chica. Videos of the explosion shared on social media show plumes of smoke billowing out from the top of the 165-foot spacecraft
Absolutely, but to move to Mk3 design. This had some value as a manufacturing pathfinder, but flight design is quite different,’ Musk wrote in response to a question on Twitter.
The spokesperson added: ‘The decision had already been made to not fly this test article and the team is focused on the Mk3 builds, which are designed for orbit.’
Starship, which Musk has said will be capable of carrying about 100 passengers, will then make its own way to the moon, Mars or possibly deeper into space.
SpaceX hopes its style of reusable rocket will mark a major breakthrough in aerospace technology that will eventually make exploration cheaper and more sustainable.
Musk shared in early November that the craft will only use $900,000 worth of propellant to take-off, compared to the $1.3 million spent on rocket fuel by NASA.
This price suggests SpaceX would only spend $2 million per mission, instead of the massive $450 million the American Space agency forks over every time they launch a rocket.
Ultimately, Musk hopes that the company’s Starship could help humans reach Mars for the first time and has set an optimistic timeline for when the experimental craft might be able to do so.
The first crewed Red Planet mission for the rocket and 100-passenger Starship could come as early as the mid-2020s if development and testing go well, Musk has said
Additional missions may even include tourist’s trips to the moon by 2024, according to the CEO.
WHAT IS ELON MUSK’S ‘BFR’?
The BFR (Big F***ing Rocket), now known as Starship, will complete all missions and is smaller than the ones Musk announced in 2016.
The SpaceX CEO said the rocket would take its first trip to the red planet in 2022, carrying only cargo, followed by a manned mission in 2024 and claimed other SpaceX’s products would be ‘cannibalised’ to pay for it.
The rocket would be partially reusable and capable of flight directly from Earth to Mars.
Once built, Musk believes the rocket could be used for travel on Earth – saying that passengers would be able to get anywhere in under an hour.
Source: Read Full Article