Starship

SpaceX pitched Starship point-to-point transportation as a way to deliver cargo in minutes to locations halfway around the world to the U.S. Air Force.

SpaceX designated Crew Dragon as the company’s overwhelming priority, with only about 5% of the company working on Starship.

The first Starship prototype is called 2019-03-01 and is being assembled at SpaceX’s South Texas site at Boca Chica east of Brownsville, Texas.

The Starship 2019-03-01 vehicle was displayed next to a Falcon 1 first stage at SpaceX’s 2019-09-28 Starship update in Texas.

SpaceX is building a Starship prototype called 2019-03-02 in Cocoa, Florida near Cape Canaveral and expects 2019-03-02 to be completed within a couple months.

The Starship 2019-03-01 is planned to make a high-altitude suborbital flight to 65,0 m (about 20 km) and return and land in about one or two months.

SpaceX has previously discussed using in-space refueling of its Starship vehicle, with tankers launched from Earth, to enable missions to the moon and Mars.

Progress toward Starship flight tests depends on obtaining approvals such as an experimental permit or launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Starship will perform vertical takeoffs and landings from Boca Chica and from the Kennedy Space Center, where SpaceX plans to test fly the 2019-03-02 version.

SpaceX expects the Starship 2019-03-01 vehicle built at Boca Chica to begin high-altitude test flights in the near future, with a target of about one month as of 2019-09-26.

SpaceX is aiming to reduce Starship dry mass to about 120,000 kg by Mk4 or Mk5.

SpaceX is building a 2019-03-02 Starship prototype in Cocoa, Florida, near Cape Canaveral.

SpaceX will provide an update on the progress of its next-generation Starship vehicle on 2019-09-28.

Elon Musk considers developing Super Heavy to be less challenging to build than developing Starship.

Elon Musk postponed an 2019-08-24 public update until the Starship 2019-03-01 vehicle at the South Texas site had three Raptor engines and other components installed, with completion estimated in mid-September.

SpaceX is developing Crew Dragon and conducting Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches in parallel with development of the Starship next-generation reusable launch vehicle.

SpaceX plans to build a pad near the new launch mount at LC-39A to support Starship landings at a future date.

An environmental assessment prepared by SpaceX and released by NASA on 2019-08-01 discusses plans to develop additional facilities at LC-39A for Starship and Super Heavy.