Success! Crew Dragon Returns & Starship SN5 Static Fires
Check out Starship's Deck F and the Giant Viewing Window
SpaceX and Starship
Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have successfully returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS), on board Crew Dragon DM-2 Endeavour. The parachutes deployed correctly, the vehicle splashed down as planned in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, and was successfully recovered. This marks the first full mission to ISS and back by a private company. It's also an important milestone on humanity's journey to Mars, and a return to manned space launches by the United States.
Congratulations to SpaceX, Bob, Doug and everyone involved with the program!
In addition, Starship SN5 had a short but successful static fire of its single Raptor engine. The stage is now set for a 150 meter hop test attempt, perhaps as soon as tomorrow.
In observing the work being done on SN5, it looks to me like SpaceX is taking much more care and effort with it than with previous Starship test vehicles. I take that as a positive sign.
If this hop is successful, SpaceX hasn’t been completely clear about what's next in their test plan. One thing we can see at Boca Chica is a steady flow of Starship construction, and in particular, lots of nose cones!
Photo courtesy bocachicagal @ NSF.
My guess about what's next is a repeat of SN5, but at a higher altitude, with two or three engines. They will certainly need to test the fins at some point, as well, which aren’t present on SN5, as well as the heat shield tiles and the belly-first aerobraking. Although Starship may technically be capable of (barely) achieving orbit on its own (Single Stage To Orbit / SSTO), I’m anticipating their first “orbital” mission to be something more like a high-altitude elliptical path, say out of the atmosphere and back. That would take less energy, while still allowing all aspects of re-entry to be tested.
SpaceX is continuing to make progress on basic infrastructure for the Super Heavy booster, including a large hexagonal launch pad. However, I haven’t seen any spaceship construction yet.
Getting Ready
There will be plenty of work to be done on Mars. If you want to go there to live and work, rather than just vacation, what subjects should you learn to have the best chance of being hired? Here are a few ideas. If you have others, please let me know in the comments.
Fuel manufacturing & loading
Geologist
Chemical engineer
Mechanical engineer
Software engineer
Radio engineer
Space suit repair & manufacture
Heavy equipment operator
Roboticist
Rocket scientist
Electronic engineer
Water treatment engineer
Machinist
Passenger management
Security
Hydroponics expert
Doctor
Dentist
Restaurant manager
Lodging manager
Architect
Event director
An important thing to keep in mind is that being trained and capable of doing more than one job will be a big plus.
Getting There
Continuing our virtual tour through one possible configuration of an early passenger-filled Starship to Mars, the next deck up from the last issue is Deck F:
Deck F is an area for socializing and just hanging out. Although the floorplan shown in the sketch is plain, the idea is to have a number of configurable and movable walls and tables that could be used to partition the area into useful spaces.
A few of these spaces might have large-screen video monitors, as places to watch TV, movies, or other videos with others, using headphones for audio, of course.
As on other decks, there’s a bathroom at the top of the sketch, and two passageways to the deck below in the middle zone, next to a couple of small storage closets.
Starship’s large viewing window begins on this deck. Assuming Starship flies with its engines facing the Sun, the window should provide a Sun and glare-free of the stars for most of the trip.
I’m anticipating that Decks A, E, F and G will be the more active social areas of the ship, with the sleeping areas on Decks B and C, along with the solar storm area on Deck D, being reserved for quieter activities.
Living There
Here’s an image of Ireson Hill, captured by the Curiosity Rover:
Notice the red and blue toned rocks, along with the very fine-grained sand.
What will life after dark be like on Mars, in your free, non-work time? I’m sure residents will want to re-establish many of their favorite indoor activities from Earth. For example:
Eating
Cooking
Hobbies
Friends
Cards
Games
Reading
Movies
Music
Dancing
Drinking
Exercise
Sports
Although alcohol might be rare for a while, it will certainly be available eventually (all it takes to make it is some yeast and sugar).
Activities such as dancing could be very fun and interesting in low-G. I could imagine some wonderfully creative efforts in that direction.
A few outdoor personal or fun activities should be possible, too, but probably less at night than during the day. Having to be in a space suit, with the associated environmental exposure risks, will almost certainly put a damper on things.
Everyone will have a laptop or some other type of personal computer; many may even have more than one (I would!). Accessing each others’ machines and servers over WiFi will certainly be possible. Accessing friends, family and even websites on Earth over a radio and satellite relay will work, too. I’m expecting a system similar to the one on Starship, that takes speed-of-light delays into account, and provides and a large local library and cache of videos and other files of common interest.
We don’t know yet how much exercise will be required to maintain bone health while we’re living on Mars. My personal guess is that because Mars doesn’t have a magnetic field, which has been shown to be important for bone health, that it might take close to the same 2 hours/day, 6 days/week program that will be required on Starship. If I was an early resident, I would certainly start with that assumption.