Elon Musk shared an animation that reveals details on SpaceX progress and what the company soon hopes to achieve after nearly a decade of effort.
Musk shared a video showing the SpaceX team working on building the curved dome that will be mounted atop the completed Starship SN1. The digit likely stands for “number 1”. Musk added that each new SN version of the rocket builds will have minor improvements “at least through the first 20 or so versions”, so it is clear they expect to test these quickly.
Also, the CEO said that he hopes the Starship will take off sometime “around 2 to 3 months from now”, which is still within range of the projections for a first Starship high-altitude test flight given by Musk earlier this year while unveiling the Starship MK1 prototype. The prototype blew its top during a test in November and Musk said they would be moving on to a new design rather than repair or rebuild the old Mk1 version.
New details about the construction process for Starship were shared too, including that SpaceX will move its process for building a future spacecraft to an enclosed edifice starting with Starship “SN2” in January.
In another tweet, Musk gave details on another change for developing Starship. The future spacecraft development is being focused at Boca Chica currently, he said, while SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral teams are dealing with Falcon/Dragon. Up until now, SpaceX has been operating two separate teams working in parallel on Starship prototypes at both sites. Musk didn’t share details on what will happen with Starship Mk2, the other earlier prototype that was currently in development at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Musk also shared updates about his tunneling company, The Boring Co. the company aims to open the Vegas tunnel to drivers in 2020, Starlink that could be available to customers in the Caribbean either in 2020 or 2021.
According to TechCrunch.