SpaceX imagined the Starship as a very versatile tool. As such, the American space agency invites us to consider making it a space station as well.
What if the Starship also became a space station, which could be deployed in orbit, like what is already being done with the ISS? This is the reflection that SpaceX should lead in the future, according to the American space agency. This reflection is all the more relevant since the company behind the Starship is already imagining a very wide variety of uses for its future vehicle.
Since the presentation of this new generation launcher, SpaceX has hinted that it will be a real Swiss army knife. In addition to sending satellites, the Starship will be able to supply orbital stations, transport crews, offer space tourism, serve as a supply ship, help in the reconquest of the Moon, drop personnel on it, and so on.
There are even more radical and futuristic prospects, such as intercontinental flights, interplanetary transport, and even travel to Mars, or even through the solar system. Of course, all this is for the time being the declaration of intent. For the moment, it is especially necessary that SpaceX finishes building this rocket, which is not done yet.
In fact, the prospect of proposing a variation of the Starship to make it a kind of mini-international space station seems more realistic, compared to certain very avant-garde ideas for using the ship. The Space.com site reported in this regard, on July 27, 2023, that NASA had precisely asked SpaceX to look into this possibility.
Replace the ISS with the Starship?
At a time when the retirement of the ISS is more and more evoked, the suggestion of NASA has a particular thickness. If the International Space Station is to be evacuated and rushed into the ocean, will it need to be replaced and, if so, with what? We know that NASA shows less interest in low Earth orbit: entrusting this task to the private sector is possible.
Adding such a new string to the Starship’s bow could both be in the interests of NASA (to continue training its astronauts in space), of scientists (for the continuation of experiments in microgravity) and for SpaceX (with its desire to develop space tourism, by absorbing part of the costs with tickets sold at exorbitant prices).
Before getting there, it will first have to be demonstrated that the Starship behaves like a normal rocket. The craft’s first-ever real-world test was abruptly cut short during flight when it spun out of control last April. Since then, SpaceX has been working for a new test, which should in principle take place during the summer. Time is running out: the Starship is eagerly awaited.
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