The SpaceX's massive spacecraft consists of the first stage or Super Heavy megarocket, and the second stage or main Starship capsule itself. At 121 meters in height and 9 meters in diameter, the world's most powerful launch vehicle is designed to be fully reusable, and to transport both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. It is also capable of point-to-point transportation on Earth, enabling travel to anywhere in the world in one hour or less, according to the Elon Musk company. The space vehicle is capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable.
The Super Heavy and Starship capsule are also simply referred to as the booster and ship respectively, by SpaceX.
At 71 m in height and 9 m in diameter, Super Heavy is powered by 33 Raptor engines using sub-cooled liquid methane (CH4) and liquid oxygen (LOX). With a 3,400-ton propellant capacity, the booster produces more than 7.6 million kilograms (or 7,590 ton-force) of thrust during flight.
The Raptor engine is a reusable methane-oxygen staged-combustion engine that powers the Starship system and has twice the thrust of Falcon 9 Merlin engine which burns a mix of kerosene-like fuel and liquid oxygen, according to SpaceX. One Raptor at 3.1 m in height and 1.3 m in diameter, is capable of producing over 230,000 kg(or 230 tf) of thrust.
Burning liquid methane and oxygen rather than Merlin's mix of kerosene-like fuel, Raptor gives Starship higher performance, allowing the weight of the engine -- and the overall rocket -- to be reduced. Methane also burns cleaner than kerosene and more efficiently than the liquid oxygen and hydrogen that powered the second stage of the NASA's Apollo era’s Saturn V.
Super Heavy has 13 Raptor engines in the center and the remaining 20 around the perimeter of the booster’s aft end -- that’s compared to the NASA's Space Launch System(SLS)’s six and the Saturn V’s five. This makes SpaceX rocket with its 7.6 million kg thrust, the most powerful ever built, comfortably beating out the old record holder: Saturn V, which flew in the 1960s and 1970s, with its 3.4 million kg of thrust.
The second stage or the main Starship space vehicle will be powered by six engines, three Raptor engines, and three Raptor Vacuum (RVac) engines, which are designed for use in the vacuum of space. At 50 m in height, 9 m in diameter, with a propellant capacity of 1,200 tons, the vehicle produces over 1.5 million kg (or 1,500 tf) of thrust.
According to SpaceX, Starship leverages tanker vehicles (essentially the Starship spacecraft minus the windows) to refill the spacecraft in low-Earth orbit prior to departing for Mars. Refilling on-orbit enables the transport of up to 100 tons all the way to Mars. And if the tanker ship has high reuse capability, the primary cost is just that of the oxygen and methane, which is extremely low, the company claims.
During a typical mission, hot-staging occurs about 3 minutes into flight during which the Super Heavy or booster shuts down and separates from the Ship, according to SpaceX's flight description. About 8 minutes after liftoff, the booster restarts its engines for a flight back to Earth, landing at the launch site.
Meanwhile the Ship's six Raptor engines will start up after three minutes into the flight, continuing the vehicle's journey skyward.
Starship has been in development since 2012. It is expected to play a significant role in the space tourism industry.
SpaceX has already conducted 3 integrated flight test(IFT) missions, as they work to improve the massive spacecraft which will play a major role in NASA’s Artemis program -- which looks to have astronauts back on the moon aboard the Artemis 3 mission, as early as 2026.
Starship production is based at Starbase in Boca Chica, a little Texas community, near the Gulf of Mexico. Boca Chica, the site of the Civil War battle of Palmito Hill, is home to a state park, a public beach, and a nearby ship channel.
WATCH: SpaceX Starship spacecraft