Elon Musk wants to build 'superhuman' rockets, which is 100 times harder than NASA's most difficult project

If successful, this will be the leap of the entire rocket industry.

SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by Elon Musk, is working on a project everyone knows: for people to settle on Mars. To make that illusion a reality, Elon Musk will need the technology of reality, and he is doing so.

SpaceX is developing a fully reusable rocket launch system called Starship

The giant spacecraft will be 55 meters high, located on a 67-meter-high Heavy Rocket rocket system. The rocket system will go up to Earth's low orbit, get more fuel for a trip, get 100 passengers and 100 tons of cargo to Mars.

But there are two factors that can determine the success (or failure) of the entire launch system, which are two changes in the new design added, described by Musk as "radical" and "different." often".

One of them is the assembly of spacecraft with stainless steel alloys, not carbon fiber mixes. But according to aerospace industry experts, the most notable and surprising change is how the ship cools its crust itself, when heated to extreme temperatures at the time of entering the Earth's atmosphere. and Mars.

Not relying on a ceramic shell to protect the hull from heat, as NASA still does with its spacecraft, Musk says his ship will "leak" rocket fuel through small, lower holes. heat of the ship. In theory, if you pour the solution onto the steel surface, the extremely hot plasma appears when the ship pierces the atmosphere, which will help the spacecraft to be intact.

But it's unclear how SpaceX will get such a cool, large-scale cooling system.

This missile system is 67m high.

"The crashing into the atmosphere, the drop in altitude and landing are still the tough issues that NASA has encountered for decades. We spend a lot of time researching to find ways to land on Mars , " Walt Engelund , aerospace engineer and director of the Department of Technology and Exploration at NASA. "We've landed a ton of Curiosity probes - that's the heaviest thing we can put on Mars."

Engelund compared the difficulty of landing a spacecraft carrying both passengers and cargo, which would be 100 times more difficult than putting down a large car-sized robot. That landing of Curiosity must be one of the most difficult challenges NASA has ever encountered."It's not easy for us and SpaceX either," he said.

Why Starship is made of heavy metal?

Elon Musk plans to build a city that will produce resources to operate on Mars by 2050. He wanted a ticket to Mars that cost as much as a house, free of charge.

He wants to achieve that wild dream by the system of Starship - Super Heavy . Stainless steel alloys will reduce costs, and assembly will take place faster. "The Starship will look like silver , " Musks said.

In an interview with Popular Mechanics, Musk explained that when compared in volume, steel is cheaper than a super-light, super-strong carbon fiber mixture. Engineers work with steel more easily, so building a model ship will take less time. Not to mention that steel is extremely high temperature resistant, some parts are better.

And yet, according to Elon Musk, the stamina of steel "increased by 50%" when covered with extremely cold solution - things like cold methane gas and oxygen used by Starship when launched.

The design of the new Starship will erase the old system's anxiety.

The biggest problem of steel is medium thick and heavy. However, Musk has talked about how SpaceX uses steel in a different way than normal, which will allow Starship to be tougher, tougher but lighter than you imagine. In short, the design of the new Starship will erase the old system's worries.

"I am confident the stainless steel ship will be lighter than the improved aluminum or carbon fiber, reducing the use of heat shields because of the more efficient vessel material."

Steel is also not invincible, it can still fail when confronted with the huge amount of heat generated by friction with the atmosphere. That's the reason why .

A rocket can "bleed, sweat"

Starship can enter and exit the atmosphere of the Earth and Mars at a speed of 30,500 km / h, the temperature pressure stick to 1480 degrees Celsius on the nose of the ship. That heat is enough to destroy the crust of Starship.

Metal for SpaceX to build ships of 310S is heat resistant due to its chromium and nickel components. Its composition differs from steel to make many pots! But they are still able to react with oxygen and corrode at 1090 degrees Celsius, starting to flow at 1,300 degrees Celsius.

The ship still needed a way to reduce the temperature, Musk proposed Starship to use the solution to cool the ship during landing. He told Popular Mechanic about bypassing the heat shield that is often used in spacecraft missions, in order to avoid the possibility of only a heated heat shield, the whole ship would be in danger.

Instead, Starship will "leak" the rocket's heat, through small holes in its steel skin. The amount of solution will take away the temperature during the missile's flight into the atmosphere.

"I want my ship to have the world's first self-replicating heat shield. It will be a two-layer hull, imagine it as a stainless steel sandwich," Musk said. "You pour water or fuel between two layers of sandwiches, then punch the hole in the outside - the holes are very small - and the rocket will sweat, or water or fuel to cool the missile shell. You can't see it unless you stand close. "

Metal for SpaceX to build ships of 310S is heat resistant due to its chromium and nickel components.

He added this heat barrier to do two tasks: lower the vessel temperature and reinforce the stainless steel.

"As far as I know, no one has tested this method."

Rocket experts have confirmed that no spacecraft has crossed the atmosphere or re-entered the atmosphere with such a heat shield. Although the hull concept "sweats" , giving off a heat barrier is not new, but history shows that this is a technical challenge that is difficult to implement.

Projects "sweating" in the past

Sweating to cool is available . in nature, we or whatever other mammals have done this for millions of years. When the body temperature is too high, the body eliminates heat in the form of sweat, preventing the body from overheating. The natural application of science and technology has not been new, sweating to reduce heat is no exception.

Before successfully launching astronauts on the Moon, NASA tested this special system.

NASA astronaut set foot on the Moon.

In 1965, NASA licensed the "technology" to use astronaut urine to reduce the ship's bottom temperature with scientific instruments, the ship carrying astronauts separated from the rocket. By the end of 2006, the space agency had spent at least $ 70,000 researching an inflatable heat barrier, releasing heat by "sweating" to land on Mars.

Sweating spacecraft also appeared in the Cold War arms race. In March 1967, the US Department of Defense launched a " missile " missile head dedicated to devices entering the atmosphere from outer space. They can fly beyond land-to-air surface missiles to attack ground targets.

But according to US Air Force historical documents, the project was abandoned in the late 1970s due to lack of capital and "problems in design, making the final product incomplete." The majority of other information related to this project is in the top secret list. According to the small amount of information published, the "leak of cold seal solution" is one of the problems encountered.

What if there was a bird . what happened to the top of the rocket?

Many experts shared worries with Business Insider about how heat shields with Starship's solution might be a big problem."Probably with such small holes, they will be very easily blocked."

Dwayne Day, who contributed to the investigation of the Columbia shuttle accident, offers a very likely scenario."What if the bird catches up on the missile and has lost the holes, when it comes back to the ground and doesn't cool the coolant, what will the rocket be overloaded with?"

A NASA space shuttle is launched into space.

NASA has also done some tests and found some systems that emit coolant solutions do not work."I have seen cases where some fluid escapes are clogged . almost immediately the whole system dissipates. The amount of energy and heat is too great," Engelund said.

Musk has said that using methane as a coolant would be better than water. The reason is that water freezes will cause the system to clog.

But according to Mr. Engelund, methane can also be a clogging agent. When high temperatures are encountered, carbon atoms in hydrocarbon fuels (such as methane) can cling to each other and solidify. They can completely block the starship "pores" . Besides, if the fuel has impurities, the chances of blocking the fuel lines will be higher.

Not to mention the amount of dust on the two planets, Earth and Mars, appearing after each passing wind. Besides the rock, the surface of Mars is only wind and dust, which will be a big problem.

Do starship withstand heat?

Elon Musk only told the public about the different parts and systems of Starship, but did not provide a complete ship. The pictures in this article are all 3D drawings of painter Kimi Talvitie. Musk promises to publish a detailed explanation in March and April, with support evidence that will be a test launch.

In the meantime, he donated to netizens about the process of testing the metal shell of Starship. The process of designing and processing o "sweat glands" is unknown for the Starship. It is difficult, but if successful, this will be the breakthrough of the rocket industry.

Even when failing, this is not yet an end to Starship, according to engineer Engelund."Maybe he will find the system too difficult or expensive, and will give a better idea , " Engelund said. "Keeping track of Musk's career, I see you are very good at it."

SpaceX refused to compare its technology with NASA's Curiosity probe project on Mars.

"Curiosity has pushed the technology limit of Mars landing in 1970 [including the atmosphere, lowering and landing], including the parachute system , " SpaceX said. "We approached the problem in a completely different way, taking advantage of what was achieved with Falcon 9, and had the opportunity to prove it many times on Earth, before considering landing on Mars."

SpaceX's rocket "bloody, sweaty" has not encountered any conflicting opinions from experts. "It surprised many people, and the project now has a lot of talented brains in attendance, including Elon who is very focused on improving it," said Engelund. "It is likely that we will touch some aspects of the system. I believe so."