Elon Musk brought little news but lots of hype for the SpaceX Starship
SpaceX's much-heralded Starship reveal on Saturday night was undone somewhat by the fact that it's hard to maintain secrecy with a 165-foot vehicle.
The Elon Musk-hosted evening presentation in Boca Chica, Texas gave viewers on the ground and watching from home via the livestream an update on the long-in-development spacecraft. The SpaceX Starship is a reusable vehicle capable of carrying both passengers and cargo beyond Earth's orbit and out into our solar system.
Musk has described it as a "multiplanetary" transport that "will allow us to inhabit other worlds. Nevermind the fact that SpaceX hasn't actually launched a crewed ship into space at this point, as NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine pointedly made clear in a statement on Friday.
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Musk promised during the hour-plus Boca Chica presentation that such a development is coming soon. Starship could take to the skies before the end of winter 2020 – perhaps even before the end of 2019 – and it could do so with passengers aboard by later in the same year.
"This thing is going to take off, fly to 65,000 feet — about 20 kilometers — and come back and land in about one to two months," Musk said, standing in front of the gleaming Starship prototype that was assembled on the launchpad in the days leading up to the presentation. It's not quite ready to fly, but it made for an effective prop as Musk hyped the next steps for SpaceX.
Throughout (and after) the presentation, SpaceX stayed active on Twitter, sharing out various tidbits of info on Starship and looks at photos, videos, and mockups. The tweets fill in all the key details for people who want to know all the key points without having to watch the 100-minute presentation.
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(Raptor engines will be used to carry Starship skyward.)
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[h/t The Verge]
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
