SpaceX launched the third test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday, as the company pushed development of the mammoth vehicle past new milestones.
Yes it’s hard, which I acknowledged by saying if they have ambitions, go big and recycle materials in space. But you make it sounds like it’s nearly impossible, which I doubt.
We know how to keep air in space stations and capsules, without involving force fields or any other sci-fi tech.
For sure, building in space it different from building in earth gravity, but that doesn’t necessarily make it impossible. There already have been experiments and small-scale demonstrations in space:
I assume it’s easier to start by building small parts, and progressively build larger parts, until hopefully we’re able to build most ships parts. The assembly can presumably happen in the vacuum of space, without air. There’s potential for ultimately building ships in orbit larger than anything we could lift with a rocket.
Yes it’s hard, which I acknowledged by saying if they have ambitions, go big and recycle materials in space. But you make it sounds like it’s nearly impossible, which I doubt.
We know how to keep air in space stations and capsules, without involving force fields or any other sci-fi tech.
For sure, building in space it different from building in earth gravity, but that doesn’t necessarily make it impossible. There already have been experiments and small-scale demonstrations in space:
Another example is a microgravity extrusion experiment in the ISS between from 2021 to 2023,
I assume it’s easier to start by building small parts, and progressively build larger parts, until hopefully we’re able to build most ships parts. The assembly can presumably happen in the vacuum of space, without air. There’s potential for ultimately building ships in orbit larger than anything we could lift with a rocket.
SpaceX, in a perfect world, just wants to be the railroad to facilitate others who want to build stations, bases, mining, recycling, etc.
As far as the greenness of rockets, recycling would be 5th in the 5 R’s: