Elon Musk Announced The Test Of SpaceX's Starship Heatshield

Indira Datta - Mar 18, 2019

Elon Musk, said workers are in the process of creating the first prototype of orbital-class Starship. It is said to be the next generation spacecraft because it can deploy satellites, bring passengers to the moon and can land on Mars.

At the beginning of March, a commercial crew - Crew Dragon was successfully brought to ISS (International Space Station) by SpaceX, recently, Elon Musk, the company's CEO, said workers are in the process of creating the prototype of orbital-class Starship. It is supposed to be the next generation spacecraft because it can deploy satellites, bring passengers to the moon and can land on Mars.

This is a giant rocket wrapped in stainless steel. Although this material was previously used to make a spacecraft in the Atlas project in the late 1950s, it was unsuccessful. If SpaceX's plan succeeds, this will be the first time that stainless steel is used in spacecraft manufacturing.

Before the Starship was officially released from the ground, Elon Musk gave people a glimpse of the heat-dissipating tiles capable of protecting the ship from intense heat. Starship's metal heat shield will be the most crucial element of orbital spacecraft because they are assembled from hexagonal metal tiles. It exists in thermal conditions such as extreme interplanetary velocity at Earth, Mars and beyond. Besides, they can still work well after completing the trip and landing.

In the video posted on Twitter by Musk, the bright white part that appears is said to have reached the maximum temperature of about 1650 Kelvin (approximately 1,375 degrees Celsius and about 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit). Musk said that this heat-resistant layer could help the ship withstand extreme heat when returning to Earth. However, its heat resistance is slightly lower than NASA's Space Shuttles (which can withstand about 1,500 degrees Celsius).

Starshipmariapointer2 — The Raptor engine was seen at the Starship launch test site.

It is known that on March 12, the Raptor rocket engine will be the power source for Starship to reach the moon and beyond. Boca Chica is where SpaceX chose to perform the first tests of Starship, and this is where the Raptor engine was found recently. The tests will include the take-off and landing process of the Starship prototype (also known as Starhopper) in conjunction with the Raptor engine.

Starshipelonmusk — Before unveiling the assembled Starship hopper prototype

A user on Twitter called Austin Barnard had published photos of the Starhopper with Raptor engines for the first time. Currently, almost all machines and tools are ready, CEO SpaceX hopes that the first test will occur on next week.