What is Starship?

About Starship:

• SpaceX’s Starship is an ambitious spacecraft designed to be fully reusable for missions to various destinations in space, including Mars.

Design and Specifications:

• It is part of a two-stage-to-orbit launch system composed of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft itself:
  • Super Heavy Booster: The first stage, responsible for lifting Starship out of Earth’s atmosphere.
  • Starship Spacecraft: The second stage, designed for space travel, including carrying crew and cargo.
• Reusability: Both stages are designed to be fully reusable, aiming to significantly reduce the cost of space travel.
• Capacity:
  • Crew: Can carry up to 100 passengers.
  • Cargo: Large payload capacity, with different configurations for various missions.
• Engines: Powered by Raptor engines, which use liquid methane and liquid oxygen (Methalox) as propellants.

Objectives and Missions:

1. Mars colonization: Central to SpaceX’s long-term goal of making humanity multi-planetary by establishing a self-sustaining colony on Mars.
2. Lunar missions: NASA’s Artemis program has selected a variant of Starship to serve as a lunar lander for returning humans to the Moon.

Orbital flights and beyond: Designed for a variety of missions, including satellite deployment, interplanetary exploration, and even space tourism.

Q1: What is the purpose of the GSLV mk3?

GSLV-Mk III is capable of launching a 4 ton class of satellites to Geosynchronous Transfer orbit (GTO). It is a three-stage vehicle with two solid motor strap-ons (S200), a liquid propellant core stage (L110) and a cryogenic stage (C25).

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Source: How SpaceX’s Starship can revolutionise space travel and exploration