Starship gets its fins

Musk's update on Starship is just a week away.  But some hints have already been released.  This is an image from Austin Barnard.  So, the rear fins are no longer going to be used as landing legs.   And the third fin, which in any event only served as a landing leg, is also gone.  Musk tweeted that this reduced weight.  Remember, the fins are to help slow the Starship down during re-entry.  They're not like the wings of an aeroplane, necessary for lift.  After all, Starship is being designed to work not just on Earth and Mars, but also airless bodies such as The Moon and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.


Once again, the progress is just extraordinary.  12 months ago, Boca Chica was little more  a mound of dirt. Now Starship Mk1 is close to completion, and will begin test flights (to 20 km) within a month.  If it works (if!) orbital test flights will begin in 2020. And there isn't just one Starship prototype.  Another is being constructed at Cocoa, Florida.   Mars by 2025!  Well, maybe not: something is bound to go wrong.  But it seems very likely that uncrewed Starships could reach Mars by 2025, and crewed by 2027 (instead of 2022 and 2025—the timetable is limited by the dates of Earth/Mars oppositions.)  And SpaceX just might manage the earlier date.  The first humans could step onto the Martian surface in 5 years.  Even if they don't, if Starship and Super Heavy work as planned, the cost of launching stuff into LEO (Low Earth Orbit) will fall three orders of magnitude.  We will have commercial space stations, a base on the Moon, and a real space economy.

Starship Mk1, Boca Chica.  Source: Austin Barnard