Hot staging is definitely going to be a big change. I don't think there's ever been a 2nd stage remotely as heavy as Starship that's hot-staged before. The N1 2nd stage might count, but I don't think its tests ever got that far. Honestly really hard to see how this is going to work well. No one's ever hot-staged any part of a reusable rocket before, and SuperHeavy needs to survive this somehow. They're going to need to dome it and that "all vents" ring might end up being disposable.
SpaceX Edges Closer to Next Launch With High-Power Test of Starship’s Water Deluge System Compare this to NASA's system.
Near the end of this episode, they ask the founder of a company that has helped with, or wholly developed, life support systems for every American spacecraft developed since the late 90s about the possible size of crew and passengers that could be launched on SpaceX's Starship for a mission to Mars. His answer? Maybe 8. Certainly not the high double-digit numbers Elmo has claimed.
Good article. For those with an attention span more than a gnat. https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/...-starship-launch-was-actually-a-huge-success/
I don't like that NASA won't be transparent, but that's nothing new and are we really going to compromise our space program because Elon Musk smoked weed with Joe Rogan?
SpaceX Must Build 1,000 Starships In 10 Years To Reach Mars Goal. So Far, 0 Starships Have Made It To Space
