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Updated June 13th, 2022 at 19:53 IST

What would Starship's journey to Mars look like? New video provides sneak peek

Starship is SpaceX's under-development rocket which has been endorsed as the launch vehicle to be used for trips to and from Mars.

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
Starship
Image: SpaceX | Image:self
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Humans will reach Mars within this decade. These words are not ours but of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell who have already made this bold prediction about humanity's next frontier. Musk's aerospace company is already scaling its work to make this happen and is doubling down on conducting a Starship launch this year. Starship is SpaceX's under-development rocket which has been endorsed as the launch vehicle to be used for trips to Mars. 

But what would it take to start an endeavour toward the red planet and what would the journey look like? A new video circulating on YouTube seems to answer this question as it offers a glimpse of how the Starship would lift off and exit the Earth's atmosphere. Posted by Tamás Török, the video also shows Mars slowly transforming into the next Earth in the end. Check out the video below. 

The video shows the 394-feet-tall Starship lifting off at T-0 from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas after being released from its launch tower. This is the same tower that SpaceX has constructed to catch the first stage Super Heavy booster after it transports the upper stage Starship spacecraft into orbit and returns for landing. The tower will be used to catch the booster which measures 230 feet in length and 30 feet in diameter. Interestingly, SpaceX already has a plan ready to touchdown on the red planet as it says that the Starship will enter Mars’ atmosphere at 7.5 kilometers per second and decelerate aerodynamically. 

Currently, a Starship launch seems like a long shot because the next generation rocket has not received a permit for even its first orbital launch. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is currently carrying out an environmental survey of Starship's launch site, had said that it will announce its decision on June 13.

When exactly would the first crewed Mars mission launch?

Predicting the exact year when humans would leave for Mars is rather complicated as many experts have their own set of timelines. As mentioned earlier, Musk and his team believe we would reach Mars before this decade ends whereas a recent estimate by Jonathan Jiang, the principal scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), suggested that this would not happen until 2037. On the other hand, just a week ago Musk said that this decade, especially the year 2029 will be pivotal and that he will be surprised if we (humans) are not on Mars. 

However, this is highly unlikely to happen considering the impending delays in sending astronauts back to the Moon. NASA, which is preparing for the same through its Artemis program, recently warned that even the next Moon landing can be delayed by 2026 or beyond due to technical difficulties and budget issues. Artemis III, when astronauts would actually land on the lunar surface, is already delayed by a year from 2025. What's also worth considering is a suitable launch window for Mars, which opens every 26 months, when the red planet is perfectly aligned with Earth. 

Image: SpaceX

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Published June 13th, 2022 at 19:53 IST

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