SpaceX plans to launch the Starship lunar-Martian spacecraft into orbit around the Earth. A corresponding application describing the mission plan has been submitted to the FCC, Spaceflight Now reports.
The Starship's voyage, powered by six Raptor rocket engines, is reported to begin at the Boca Chica Proving Grounds, Texas, and conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii.
To launch the Starship, a Super Heavy rocket equipped with 28 Raptor rocket engines will be used, the total thrust of which is twice that of the Saturn 5 super-heavy rocket used in the Apollo lunar program.
The Starship flight will last 90 minutes, during which the Super Heavy engines will run for approximately three minutes. The launch vehicle is expected to land in the Gulf of Mexico east of Starbase after the spacecraft has been withdrawn.
The exact date of the flight tests of the Super Heavy and Starship bundle has not been disclosed.
In May, the Starship prototype successfully landed after testing.
In February 2019, the head of SpaceX, Elon Musk, said that the pressure inside the combustion chamber of the American methane Raptor is superior to the Russian kerosene RD-180.
