GAME OVER! Why Starship Has A Hidden Benefit...

Why SpaceX's Starship has a hidden benefit no one is talking about that will massively benefit the space industry and humanity at large.

Thumbnail Credit: Mike from smallstars (go subscribe/follow him!)
https://www.youtube.com/c/smallstars/videos
https://twitter.com/smvllstvrs

#spacex

Calling SpaceX’s Starship one of the most hyped space technologies out there would be an understatement. The project has been full of twists and turns, as would be the norm with anything involving SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. From beating out Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Blue Origin, and Draper Labs to a $2.9 billion NASA contract, to promising sub-$2 million dollar launches, Starship has had quite an existence.
After all, SpaceX itself has been touting a conceptual heavy-life launch vehicle since 2005, with the design evolving in the 16 years since. Starship has changed a bit along the way, whether in the form of the launch vehicle’s construction moving from carbon fiber to stainless steel, or with the 20 prototypes flaunting new designs and changes.

SpaceX’s CEO isn’t one to shy away from announcing abnormally large, but quirky, ideas on Twitter, and his July 7th Tweet fits that mold. In a response to NASA Spaceflight’s Assistance Managing Editor, Chris G, Musk mentioned it would “be cool” to incorporate science instruments into a deep-space Starship, adding that he was already looking into turning Starship into a “new giant telescope.”

According to Musk, this Starship telescope would sit at more than 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope, complete with its own maneuverability and deep-space potential. That’s quite an interesting Tweet, especially considering his mention of “talking to Saul Perlmutter,” who “suggested wanting to do that.”

A superpowered version of the telescope, brought about by Musk’s SpaceX and its Starship, could teach us so much more, with the ability to be cast further into space with a 1000% increase in resolution. When brought to an operational status, Starship will not only become the most powerful rocket in the world but will also become the most powerful telescope in existence.

Going back to Musk’s references to the Hubble Space Telescope, you can see the immediate benefit: the HST weighed 24,500 pounds and was 43.5 feet long. SpaceX’s website says the Starship can tow cargo in excess of 100 metric tons, or 220 thousand pounds. That’s nearly 9 times the HST’s weight.

SpaceX has been researching the use of Starship as a container for a scientific payload for a while though, with the ability to hold “payloads requiring up to 22m of height.” Starship itself was toted as capable of deploying satellite constellations and scooping up space debris, using exclusively a cargo door and some extras.

If Starship can deploy entire satellite constellations, why not use that technology to deploy a system of highly advanced telescopes. The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990. In the 30+ years since then, not only has technology advanced tremendously but it’s also become smaller and lighter. If the Hubble is this powerful and was launched in 1990, imagine what Starship would be able to do.

Whether in the form of one large telescope or dozens of smaller ones, the potential is incredible. We’ve just started learning about deep space, and the human race has already applied what we know to the world as a whole. The aging of the universe, black holes, dark matter, antimatter, galaxy creation; they’re all things we’ve learned from a 3-decade old piece of machinery.

And yes, while we’ve learned quite a bit from Hubble, it’s not just good things that have come from the telescope. Sitting in Earth’s orbit, Hubble has had tons of issues, ranging from a recent software glitch to the fact that the entire main mirror was polished a bit too flat. There are quite a lot of issues that could be solved just by using Starship as an assistive vehicle or more.

We’re learning more about the universe every day, and Starship would make it oh so much quicker. Do you think Starship will deliver on Elon Musk’s promises or do you think it’ll become yet another promise washed away by hype? Tell us below in the comments, and we hope to see you again soon with growing news on SpaceX and more!

Видео GAME OVER! Why Starship Has A Hidden Benefit... канала Strive Valley