SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th test flight

Re:SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th t... by staplung on Wednesday August 27, 2025 @10:26AM (#45040200)

Maybe, but remember that getting astronauts to the moon and back took a single Saturn V launch but with Starship, it will take (at least) 10 flights for refueling, possibly as many as 20. So each launch has to be much cheaper to beat Saturn V for the full mission.

Nobody but SpaceX knows how much each Starship test costs but the estimates online range from $50 million to $200 million. Presumably, whatever the actual cost, they're more expensive right now while they're redesigning bits and doing custom, one-off work for each flight but it has a long way to go to beat Saturn V for the full mission.

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Re:SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th t... by briandw on Wednesday August 27, 2025 @10:39AM (#45040376)

A starship mission to the moon will land over 100tons of cargo. Saturn V could get roughly 5tons to the surface. Its an entirely different class of operation.

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Re:SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th t... by thesmart on Wednesday August 27, 2025 @12:06PM (#45041530)

That's LEO, not to lunar orbit and entry. Saturn V had a maximum lift capacity of 310,000 lb (140,000 kg) to low Earth orbit (LEO) and could deliver approximately 50 tons (45,000 kg) of payload to the Moon.

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Re:SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th t... by boxed on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:58AM (#45051625)

Well... no. The PLAN for the Starship lander is to have 100tons of cargo. That's why it takes so many refulings.

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