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by dark_star 574 days ago
It's not nonsense. To refuel Starship to land on the Moon like the NASA HLS program proposes [1], it will take 16 Starship Tanker flights [2][3]. So 16 launch, transfer propellant, land, refuel and refill propellant on the ground, and repeat.

For Mars launches, which is what Starship is mainly designed for, it's also 8-16 Tanker flights to fully fuel a Mars Starship. But SpaceX anticipates sending fleets of ships each synodic period (2 years), when Earth and Mars are closest. For a fleet of 10 Starships, that would be 10 launches of the Mars Starships, then 160 launches of Tanker Starships to fuel them.

You might debate whether Mars colonization is possible or desirable, but Starship and the high launch rate is designed for refueling Moon and Mars landing vehicles.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Landing_System

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship#Planned_launch...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_HLS

1 comments

I think you are being taken for a ride, but hey, if SpaceX does this in the next 15 years come find me.