Elon Musk has officially unveiled the Starhopper. It is actual images and not renderings. Nextbigfuture has been tracking the construction for the last month.
Starship test flight rocket just finished assembly at the @SpaceX Texas launch site. This is an actual picture, not a rendering. pic.twitter.com/k1HkueoXaz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 11, 2019
It needed to be made real https://t.co/9Y490tukao
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 11, 2019
Some have noted how the shiny Starhopper rocket is from the pages of 1950s science fiction.
The story to look at is Robert Heinlein’s book The Man Who Sold the Moon and the movie Destination Moon which was released in 1950. The movie was cowritten by Heinlein and won the Academy Award for Visual Effects. The rocket ship in the movie looks very similar to the planned SpaceX Super Heavy Starship.
The film’s premise is that U.S. private industry will mobilize, finance, and manufacture the first spacecraft to the Moon, while making the assumption that the U.S. government will then be forced to purchase or lease this new technology to remain the dominant power in space and on the Moon. Industrialists are shown cooperating to support the private venture. In the final scene, as the crew approaches the Earth, the traditional “The End” title card heralds the dawn of the coming Space Age: “This is THE END…of the Beginning”.
Space development was stalled for many years after the Apollo missions. We had the space shuttle and the space station but there was a long plateau in capability. SpaceX is giving a private industry rebirth. SpaceX will send the next major manned mission around the moon.
The SpaceX Super Heavy Starship will now be made of mirror polished stainless steel and will have tripod legs. The real SpaceX vehicle looks very similar to what is in Destination Moon.
Another Falcon 9 Launch of Iridium 8
SpaceX is targeting Friday, January 11 for the launch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This is the eighth and final set of satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for Iridium’s next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT. The instantaneous launch opportunity is at 7:31 a.m. PST, or 15:31 UTC, and the satellites will begin deployment approximately an hour after launch.
Falcon 9’s first stage for the Iridium-8 mission previously supported the Telstar 18 VANTAGE mission in September 2018. Following stage separation, SpaceX will attempt to land Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Just Read the Instructions” droneship, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.