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The Evolution of SpaceX’s Starship Explained: From the MCT and Starhopper to SN20. #starship #spacex SpaceX has had quite a few revisions of their two-stage reusable launch vehicle prototype, alongside quite a few name changes. From the Mars Colonial Transport to the Starhopper prototype to the SN naming, Starship has evolved quite a bit. This video will cover a general outline of the evolution behind SpaceX's Starship. In 2012, Elon Musk was floating an idea for a "Mars Colonial Transport," which would transport colonists to Mars as the name implies. While the concept continued, the name quickly changed, as Musk believed SpaceX's vision could go further. Welcome to the "Interplanetary Transport System," or ITS, which Musk unveiled in 2016. The new name faced a new design, which, when revealed in 2017, noted 40 crew cabins with a total capacity of 100 people. However, that design was short-lived when Musk announced a new revision the year later, which now sported three rear fins and two front fins. Alongside a new revision came a new name two months later: Starship (and the Super Heavy booster). Nonetheless, with the vehicle having an official name for the upper and booster stages of SpaceX's design, Musk went into a complete overhaul of the ship's previous specs. What started with the Starhopper, quickly moved to the Starship MK1 and MK2 before finally renaming the MK3 to be called SN1. SN1 began testing in January 2020, with the intentional destruction of tanks during pressurization tests. While the vehicle's first test made it to a pressure of 7.1 bar, the second hit 7.5 bar, and the third hit 8.5 bar. Starship tanks were deemed safe for human flight with these tests, having reached 1.4 times the mandated safety pressure. Now with flight-ready tanks, SpaceX began stacking SN1's parts in February 2020, before the vehicle's cryogenic pressurization test destroyed the prototype. In the meantime, SpaceX went back to the drawing board with SN3 and 4, designed for short flights and longer flights, respectively. Unfortunately, SN3 crushed itself on April 3rd, 2020, after a configuration error caused nitrogen reserves to leak and the methane tanks to destroy the vehicle. SN4 lasted until May 29th, when a static fire test caused the prototype to explode after a quick disconnect failed. Ironically, SN4 survived a methane fuel-powered fire ten days earlier before exploding from the fire test. Musk and SpaceX got back to work with total developmental forces focused on SN5 and SN6, centering on fixing Starship's past weaknesses. And, it worked.SN5 faced a successful static fire test on July 30th, with a 150-meter flight successfully occurring on August 4th. Thus, SN5 served as SpaceX's first official Starship flight if you don't consider Starhopper's quite different design. Nonetheless, this was a huge moment. SN5 was proof that SpaceX can put a Starship into space, even if the test flight only went up 150 meters. Since then, SpaceX has continued on with even more Starship SN rockets, which now leads us to today where SpaceX is preparing SN20 for their first orbital space flight for Starship. According to current SpaceX plans, SN20 will enter the upper atmosphere, accelerate to orbital velocity, test body flaps, altitude control, and the heat shield as the ship re-enters our atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. So, with that all this in mind, do you think SN20 will make it deeper in the history books than it already is? How do you feel about SpaceX's progress within just the last two years? Let us know in the comments down below!
