Wie würde ein „vereinfachter“ Raumschiffplan für den Mond tatsächlich aussehen?
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/11/what-would-a-simplified-starship-plan-for-the-moon-actually-look-like/
Wie würde ein „vereinfachter“ Raumschiffplan für den Mond tatsächlich aussehen?
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/11/what-would-a-simplified-starship-plan-for-the-moon-actually-look-like/
1 Kommentar
I don’t agree with the conclusion of the article that building a smaller 3rd stage to act as the lander would be too difficult. In fact it would be simpler, cheaper, and faster than building another Starship.
The reason is it would be smaller for the smaller tank size, perhaps by 1/5th or 1/6th. Note then that rather than building the tanks by welding together multiple rings, you would only need one, plus the top and bottom bulkheads.
Quite key also is rather than needing 6 or 9 engines as on Starship, you would only need one, also much simpler and cheaper. Indeed, it is a general fact that the cost of stages, of same propulsion type, scales closely with stage size.
Other reasons why it would be simpler and cheaper is it would not need upper or lower flaps, as it’s operating only in space. Nor would it need header tanks, as it would not be landing back on Earth. Also, the costly to install 17,000 thermal tiles would be eliminated.
See here for how Starship is constructed, including the welding of the steel rings:
How Does SpaceX Build Starships at Starbase? From Steel to Starship.
https://youtu.be/2k-7QvQY7MA?si=BeJzaUApskXms9ZU