when most of us here starship we think
about something from a science-fiction
movie or our favorite TV show however we
live in a time where the idea of
starships won't be considered as fiction
for a long time anymore
it is in fact becoming a reality and the
first step have been taken what is a
starship all the space related travel of
modern times has been interplanetary and
accomplishing interstellar travel will
be a tremendous breakthrough for our
species interstellar travels will
provide answers and solutions to the
future of our existence a starship can
be classified as a spacecraft designed
for interstellar travel it must be able
to travel at speeds faster than light or
make use of a shortcut as provided by
wormholes to reach a destination far
away from earth spaceX are actively
working on the first interplanetary ship
starship the pioneering generation of
starship will accomplish much less than
interstellar travel nonetheless it
provides a foundation that is crucial to
reach the ultimate goal initially known
as big Falcon rocket Elon Musk announced
a name change of the craft feeling that
the name is more suited for the end goal
and future versions of starship what is
the purpose of starship the current
intention of starship is to aid humans
in becoming a multi-planet species in
the short term it will enable the
transport of the largest payloads up to
date and further down the line it will
provide transport for a high number of
people to another planet whether it be
to and from the moon or Mars
additionally starship has the ability to
support earth to earth transport which
will enable long-distance trips to be
completed within an hour the main
selling point of starship is that it
will be the first of its kind to be
fully reusable reusability in this case
mean that starship will be fully
reusable after landing and its booster
called super-heavy will detach from the
main ship after entering low-earth orbit
re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and
successfully land on the launch pad
to be used again without any
refurbishment as well as serving the
purpose to make starship refillable why
starship is built from stainless steel
the large diameter of starship is the
most noticeable this large diameter is
due to a pressurized volume of a
thousand cubic meters which can hold a
cargo load of up to 150 metric tons or
100 people at first the main material
selection of starship seems
counterintuitive with materials such as
aluminium and carbon fiber that is
lighter and provides adequate strength
stainless steel does not seem like a
good choice due to starship being fully
reusable it will be sent from and re-enter
the Earth's atmosphere for ascent you
want something that is strong at
cryogenic temperatures due to the liquid
oxygen propellant and for entry a
scorching heat must be withstood
this is where the high quality stainless
steel 301 alloy starts to shine at
cryogenic temperatures the stainless
steel exhibits an increase in strength
thus not having any issues of the
material becoming brittle steel can
easily operate at temperatures of around
840 degrees Celsius whereas both
aluminium and carbon fiber are unable to
operate at these temperatures as
required another benefit of the
stainless steel is that heat shielding
on the back side is unnecessary the side
facing the wind does however require a
means of cooling and will be the first
to feature a regenerative heat shield this heat
shield will operate by means of
transpiration cooling where a double
walled shell with either water or fuel
flowing between the stainless steel
layers of micro openings on the outer
side of the shell provide an exit to the
 fluid the heat at the windward side will
then be marginally absorbed by the fuel
and thus cool this side of starship
although stainless steel is the heavier
material choice it provides overall
better properties for the extreme
operating circumstances of the
spacecraft as well as being the more
economic approach we will be part of the
generation that colonizes Mars but will
we stop there will we go beyond that and
pursue interstellar travel let me know
what you think about the future of space
if you have any topics that you would
like to see discussed on genius
engineering let me know in the comments
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