/sci/ - Science & Math

>>12802466
Reusable boosters and rockets are a big deal. But the tech for vertical propulsive landing has been around for ages, though only in tech demos and it's impressive they were able to implement it. Other than that the Falcon9 (and heavy) are pretty standard and well made. A solid rocket ahead of the competition by a decade (or rather everyone else is lagging decades behind).

Now the starship is on a whole different level. It (booster+upper stage) will be the biggest motherfucking rocket ever built. It has a bigger pressurized volume than the entire ISS. In fact it would be cheaper and better to just drop the ol' ISS in the ocean and send a bunch of modified starship up there.
But you would be wrong to think it's just a stupidly oversized rocket. No this can bad boy can not just take off and land on Earth, it can do this on the Moon and Mars. Now if you don't know that's a pretty big fucking deal. If he succeeds they'll even put NASA to shame. It is estimated it could deliver between 100 and 150 tonnes to mars, that's the equivalent of over 100-150 Perseverance rovers, or about 3 adult male sperm whales. Whichever you prefer. So how does it achieve that? Yup, orbital fucking refueling. Now this is the biggest game changer of them all.

honestly the day this baby flies I'm buying a ticket to the USA to see it in person.