The Space Launch System and New Glenn rocket are two of the super- heavy-lift rockets in development. The upper half of the rocket is designed to be refueled in Earth's atmosphere so more of its lifting capability can be handed over to scientific equipment. Taking humans to the moon might require eight separate launches, with each launch bringing up fuel for the lunar ship that will make its way to the moon with scientific equipment and crew.
Scientists are starting to think about what they might be allowed to do. A paper published earlier this year by NASA Ames Research Center explored some of the scientific opportunities that might be opened by a mission to the moon and Mars. It is possible to carry full-sized equipment from Earth without having to miniaturize it to fit in a smaller vehicle, as was required for the Apollo missions to the moon. Heldmann says that you could bring a drilling rig. You could drill a kilometer like we do on Earth. Ice and other useful resources are thought to be present in the interior of the moon and Mars. Heldmann says that before, such an idea was a little bit insane. She says that you could do it, and still have room to spare. What else do you want to bring?
It will be possible for Starship to bring back a lot of samples. Scientists on Earth would have unprecedented access to extraterrestrial material if the volume returned from a variety of different locations. It could shed light on a number of mysteries, such as the volcanic history of the moon or the question of life and Astrobiology on Mars.
The moon and Mars could be used as refueling stations for more extravagant missions, which is an ambitious future envisioned by Musk.
Let's go to Neptune.
A group of scientists called Conex have a proposal to explore Neptune and its largest moon, Triton, using a spaceship called Arcanum. There is so much we don't know about Neptune, it has only been visited once by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft. The co-lead of Conex says that nobody is thinking about what Starship could enable. Arcanum is designed to showcase that.
The largest deep space probe to date is NASA and the European Space Agency's Cassini-Huygens mission, which explored the planet from 2004 to 2017. No existing rocket could launch such a craft. Arcanum would include a lander to study Neptune, a penetrator to strike the surface of Triton, and an observatory to study Neptune. The mission could be used to study the outer solar system and to find planets around other stars.
Other ideas are even more speculative. Philip Lubin, a physicist from the University of California, Santa Barbara, calculated that a large enough rocket, such as Starship, could be used to prevent an asteroid from hitting Earth. The mission could carry enough explosives to destroy an asteroid the size of the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. It would burn up in the atmosphere before it could reach our planet.
The giant space telescopes that can observe the universe could be launched with a spaceship. The process of folding up equipment such as NASA and the James Webb Space Telescope could be prone to error. NASA has suggested that a proposed super-telescope called LUVOIR designed to image Earth-like planets around other stars could launch on Starship, while Musk has said that he is already working on a project that would have a really big telescope. There are no further details yet.
Say hello to your neighbors.
Scientists have dreams of using Starship to visit other stars. The Max Planck Institute for Solar System research in Germany and colleagues say that a low-cost way to test technologies for a spaceship that can travel multiple light-years to neighboring star systems is called Starship. A sail-powered spaceship could be released on a trip to Mars, using a laser to push against a thin sail and reach incredible speeds. If we were able to follow the path of one of our sails through the solar system, we would be able to follow it for a few days and almost to Jupiter.
It is difficult to send a probe to Jupiter's volcanic moon Io without a substantial lifting capability. Alfred McEwen, a planetary geologist from the University of Arizona, says it is extremely challenging to get into the correct position to protect yourself from Jupiter's harsh radiation. Mass helps those things. There is plenty of fuel and radiation shielding.
Musk has suggested that the company could launch as many as a dozen test flights in the next few years, with missions to the moon and Mars on the horizon. The development of Mars will be very fast once Starship starts flying, according to a former senior Mars development engineer. There will be more people who can fly. There could be anything from ride-along missions to stand alone missions. Adding on science hardware is easy when you have a 100 ton capability. If someone wants to buy space, they can. It will be a big change in how we do science.
There are a lot of good reasons to be cautious. We have yet to see the full rocket launch, despite the fact that Starship has flown test flights without the Super Heavy booster. Problems could still be experienced with the development of this machine. A proposed mission to Mars, Red Dragon, was once supposed to have launched as early as 2018). The proposed method to reach the moon and Mars is complex and is not yet proven.
There are lots of reasons to be excited about what Starship could do if it succeeds. It may open up a whole new era of space science, from the inner to the outer solar system. A space scientist from the University of California, Berkeley says that he's sure that some smart people are thinking about sending scientific missions on the spaceship.
Musk said it was really whatever you can imagine.
