An interesting thread:
I've been thinking about all the upcoming and potential SpaceX Starship variants on the horizon so they're listed here in this thread.
— KiwiThinker (@KiwiThinker) February 9, 2025
Start:
I count 15 variants. Let me know if you think I missed any.
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A fair bit of speculation, but most are certainly expected. I’m sure there will be more surprises on the way, and upgrades of different variants over time.
There will clearly be differences between UP Starships and DOWN Starships. 🙂
Some of the versions aren’t going to be designed for re-entry, such as the potential space station option, and those will have to burn up in the atmosphere at end of life. Starship flights 7 and 8 probably provided some good data on how that might go. ^_^
It occurs to me that SpaceX could throw together a credible Mars sample return from components in hand. Using a Starship to throw it toward Mars:
*Starship has big header tanks and stirling coolers to keep landing propellants safe until landing. Direct entry at Mars, down and done. Maybe horizontal landing on side-facing thrusters like the Masten/ULA Centaur moon lander.
*Half of payload is a Perseverance-type rover and a fleet of Ingenuity-derived sample recovery helicopters.
*Second half of payload is a Dragon with an oversize trunk (maybe two stages of trunk) with enough delta-V for Earth return, and Super Dracos on the 1st stage. Direct entry at Earth, down and done.
Almost zero new development, just integration.