SpaceX wants US Army to use its 18,000 mile-an-hour Starship rockets to transport troops & supplies

[Hamartia Antidote]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/10189614/spacex-us-army-starship-rockets/

SpaceX wants US Army to use its 18,000 mile-an-hour Starship rockets to transport troops & supplies in ‘minutes’

SPACEX is offering its Starship rocket to the US Army.

The company, which specialises in making space access easier, has suggested it could make tasks such as transporting men and materials overseas far quicker for the military.


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SpaceX is looking to work with the US ArmyCredit: AP:Associated Press
Elon Musk's company is also said to believe that its Starlink broadband satellites would be a useful resource for soldiers.

It plans to send a minimum of 12,000 satellites into Earth's orbit so they can provide cheap WiFi to the whole world.


SpaceX has previously been associated with the US army, having stated that it was a potential customer for the Starship rocket and Starlink broadband at a US Army conference earlier this year.

Starship is SpaceX's largest project to date and combines the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy rocket.

It can lift 110 tons of cargo into low earth orbit and has the potential to transport people and cargo between any two points on Earth.

It would essentially work like a ballistic missile.


The Starship would be launched, accelerate into low-earth orbit and shoot towards a landing pad at 18,000 miles an hour.

This would be faster than any current transportation system.

Once it had reached the area above its destination, Starship would then de-orbit and use its rocket engines for a safe landing.

According to Popular Mechanics, a Starship trip between Nebraska in the US and the United Arab Emirates would take about half an hour.

With speeds like this, the US army could easily send men and supplies to where they were urgently needed.

Starship can carry around 100 people at a time and could potentially carry tanks.

However, the Space Shuttle currently has a safety record of 1.5% so won't be trusted by the US Army anytime soon.

The Starlink satellite system is more likely to be up the Army's street for now.

Cheap WiFi all over the globe could be invaluable for troops but only if SpaceX can guarantee solid cybersecuirty..

 

[jamahir]

Starship is SpaceX's largest project to date and combines the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy rocket.

There is one thing bothering me.

The Starship spacecraft needs the Super Heavy rocket as the 1st Stage and the relevant infrastructure to hold the rocket and the spacecraft, before the launch, so what happens after the Starship lands in, say, UAE ?? How will it return to Earth-orbit and homebase ??

In addition, how will this works for Mars ?? Is the return to Mars-orbit accomplished by only the Starship because of Mars lower gravity ??

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

There is one thing bothering me.

The Starship spacecraft needs the Super Heavy rocket as the 1st Stage and the relevant infrastructure to hold the rocket and the spacecraft, before the launch, so what happens after the Starship lands in, say, UAE ?? How will it return to Earth-orbit and homebase ??

In addition, how will this works for Mars ?? Is the return to Mars-orbit accomplished by only the Starship because of Mars lower gravity ??

Starship can reach orbit without the Super Heavy (probably not if fully loaded though). However it will use up all its fuel. If it lands in the UAE it would need to be refueled.

To get to Mars (plus being fully loaded) it will use the Super Heavy to conserve its fuel during launch. However it will still need to use its own engines to reach orbit speed as the Super Heavy will disconnect within a few minutes of launch..well before orbital speed is reached. So another launch will be done to meet it in orbit and transfer fuel.

On Mars it will use methane gathered on the planet to lift off and reach orbit. It will then hook up with a fuel tanker orbiting Mars to refuel it for the trip back to Earth.

 

[Sineva]

Shouldnt they be offering it to the SPACE FORCE instead?[LOL!!]