Tonight at 21pm American time (after an hour's postponement due to bizarre weather) Elon Musk presented the next chapter of his space history.
After Tesla, hyperloops and especially Neuralink, the American tycoon also launches the official designs of its SpaceX and the Starship carrier, ready for the first suborbital flight.
SpaceX showed off the development and design of its spacecraft in all its splendor, especially the flagship Starship from the Boca Chica launch site in Texas.
Musk's ability to dominate the media is extraordinary: for weeks, he has swayed the details to direct the debate and focus it about his company. The last one discovered twelve days ago:
The complete prototype, the date of the first flight, the structural innovations are part of a plan that significantly changes the trajectory of SpaceX.
Like before, the prototype spacecraft has three engines and can reach an altitude of 200km before returning to Earth.
The novelty is of two types: first of all the structure, completely made of steel, which acts as a heat shield upon re-entry into the atmosphere.
Starship will place itself in a horizontal attitude to shield heat and friction, and will direct its "fallout" towards the planet using a pair of small movable wings positioned on the top of the craft.
Il commercial service will begin in 2021, net of the reliability of SpaceX, which also in the past missed a few appointments. Heavy Falcon's first flight was scheduled 6 years ago.
On the other hand, the next steps are even more ambitious. The first flight (which already has one booked, a Japanese billionaire), the "tourist tour" around the Moon in 2023, and other missions around, for which the carrier (Super Heavy Booster) had not even been born yet.
