Elon Musk has Tweeted some of the details of the breakthrough changes to the SpaceX Super Heavy Starship.
The overall shape of the SpaceX Super Heavy Starship are about the same. However, there are fundamental materials change to airframe, tanks and heatshield.
@elonmusk Elon, how long until we can have more tech details about the bfs design changes? Some of us rocket nerds are dying to know anything! Thanks!
— Malcolm Head (@Malcolmmarsman) November 25, 2018
Contour remains approx same, but fundamental materials change to airframe, tanks & heatshield
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2018
At the September, 2018 discussion of the previous design of the SpaceX Super Heavy Starship (aka BFR) the craft would mostly land using its shape and heatshield. Design improvements to the airframe, tanks and heatshield would be critical for successfully mostly unpowered re-entry.
The better the unpowered part of re-entry works then the more efficient the whole launch will be and the more reusable the craft will be. A perfected re-entry with no damage for reuse would get this closer to airplane like reusability.
Full airplane like reusability with zero maintenance between launches gets toward the goal of multiple launches per day.
Gwynn Shotwell COO of SpaceX has said the airplane like use of SpaceX Super Heavy Starship (aka BFR) is definitely going to happen. She said in her TED interview that the SpaceX Super Heavy Starship will takeoff and land ten times per day.
Displacing aviation with hypersonic (mach 25) travel would be worth over $15 trillion.