America has more new spaceships on the way

Re:America has more new spaceships on the way by thePunisher on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @05:38AM (#23389305)

Not really. The passenger and cargo area are on top and the fuel tanks are at the bottom, which will be mostly empty after landing.

IIRC Starship has a cargo capacity of 100 metric tons, all of it topside. The Raptor engines at the bottom will counterbalance this somewhat but it will still be top-heavy.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:America has more new spaceships on the way by m4rtink on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @04:33PM (#23395979)

IIRC at least in some iterations starship has cargo pots at the bottom inside the "skirt" next to/between the vacuum optimized outer engines. That could help weight distribution & makes the pods easily acessible once you drop them to the surface post landing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:America has more new spaceships on the way by valuearb on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @04:13PM (#23395800)

That’s my point. Those Raptors are heavy.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:America has more new spaceships on the way by thePunisher on Thursday June 04, 2020 @09:09AM (#23416081)

Not that heavy. A Raptor weighs 1500kg (1.5 metric tons) so 6 of them makes 9 metric tons while the weight at the top of Starship should be almost 100 tons.

[ Parent | on HN ]