SpaceX Starship Mission and NASA
Source : Indian Express
GS III : Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life

Why in News ?

A prototype Starship rocket developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company was able to launch and successfully land marks a new era in space exploration for NASA.

• SpaceX Starship Mission and NASA had four previous prototypes of Starship had failed to do so, getting destroyed during or soon after touchdown at the southeastern tip of Texas

Key Facts

Space X’s central mission is to make interplanetary travel accessible and affordable and to become the first private company to do so.

• The spacecraft has been described as a game-changer for space travel, being a fully reusable transportation system for crew and cargo to the Earth’s orbit, Moon and Mars.
• SpaceX’s full-scale, stainless steel, bullet-shaped rocketship.
• About Starship
  • It is a spacecraft and super-heavy booster rocket
  • It is meant to act as a reusable transportation system for crew and cargo to the Earth’s orbit, Moon and Mars.
  • SpaceX has described Starship as “the world’s most powerful launch vehicle”
  • It has an ability to carry over 100 metric tonnes to the Earth’s orbit.
  • The company is working on building a fleet of reusable launch vehicles capable of carrying humans to Mars and other destinations in the solar system.
  • A rapidly reusable space launch vehicle could reduce the cost of travelling to space by a hundredfold.
  • Once developed Starship is also expected to help carry large amounts of cargo to the Moon.
  • It is expected to enter Mars’s atmosphere at a speed of 7.5 km per second and will be designed to withstand multiple entries.
  • Starship will carry the next man and the first woman to land on the Moon in this decade.

NASA Artemis mission and SpaceX

• Artemis programme which plans to send humans to the Moon in this decade.
  • SpaceX won the $2.89 billion contract
• The Artemis programme initiated by the administration of former President Donald Trump planned to do this in 2024 but the plans were postponed because of a shortfall in funding.
• NASA aims to demonstrate new technologies, capabilities and business approaches that will ultimately be needed for the future exploration of Mars.

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