Human rating the SpaceX Starship could take a few years after it is flying successfully to orbit. However, the SpaceX Starship could fly unmanned into orbit and even dock with the ISS Space Station.
ErcXSpace has some renderings of what the SpaceX Starship looks like in orbit and docked with the Space Station. It would be trivial and fast for SpaceX Starship to be able to hold safe living conditions. The human rating issues are more difficult to prove launching reliably and safely. This would also mean proving launch abort safety.
If the SpaceX Starship flies unmanned to orbit then astronauts could fly up via other systems like the SpaceX Dragon and dock and board Starships.
Massive amounts of scientific systems could be loaded into the Starship. If additional docking systems are carried up then there could be four times as much space on the ISS by just docking and parking three SpaceX Starships.
It will be far more useful to human rate the SpaceX Starship to fly human astronauts.
Starship Docking with the ISS, 2023.#SpaceX #Starship pic.twitter.com/NOyRmv6kLV
— Erc X (@ErcXspace) November 12, 2020
Approach.#SpaceX #Starship @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/BkQ43ZMwy5
— Erc X (@ErcXspace) August 28, 2023
It would also be very useful to make larger space equipment that would be enabled by the Starship.
The seven 8.4 meter mirrors of the 24.5 meter Giant Magellan Telescope would fit into the 9-meter wide Starship.
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sounds like ship 26. I can’t decide if it’s a fuel depot prototype, or as you imply, a orbital work/living space prototype. my choice is it’s both, ferry a load to fuel to transfer in orbit and then dock it and refurbish to add living spaces in the fuel tanks. 2 birds so to speak.
It was a section in Space Station Five.
Depending on how rational NASA’s man rating system is, in principle it ought to be a lot easier to man rate Starship going up, than going down. The payload is large enough that you could basically load a Starship down with Dragon capsules, which would function as abort capsules on the way up, (Thus the easier man rating.) and be used for reentry coming back.
A crazy conjecture but starships could also boost the station out of earth orbit when the day comes – dont ask me why but i was wondering if its possible
No practical. ISS isn’t deep space rated. Also, would take a lot of propellant.
I could see boosting it into a holding orbit, for later inclusion in an orbital museum. But, yeah, it’s not really meant to be occupied beyond LEO’s relatively mild radiation environment, and it’s getting kind of creaky at this point.
Yep. They could add a lot of private rooms, labs and bathroom stalls in a single launch. A lot more with an additional ones.
At certain point, it will become painfully obvious the current Artemis plans for 4 astronauts on he Moon at any time, or the limited occupancy of the ISS are a residue of times past.