In a recent Twitter update, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has announced that the company has recently undergone some major radical design changes to its Starship and Super Heavy (rocket) BFS and BFB in 2018.
With testings and other design developments going on rapidly at Boca Chica, space enthusiasts are in a frenzy over Musk ‘s reported design changes.” The Prototype Spaceship (BFS Starship) would soon be undergoing hop tests in South Texas”, Elon Musk suggested while discussing an array of information ranging from metallurgy to overall design philosophy and comparisons of the prototype.
With the developments and proceedings going at a smooth pace and sooner than scheduled, Musk is confident enough that the new testing cycle starts very soon. The prototype version of the Starship will soon set to fly high as early as the first half of 2019.
Stainless Steel Starship pic.twitter.com/rRoiEKKrYc
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2018
At the time of last updated about the BFS program on September 2018, Gwynne Shotwell ( SpaceX President and COO) reportedly said that the new prototype could begin test flights by late 2019. The new design changes have sped up the entire aerospace schedule with a baffling nine months ahead of schedule.
The company is working round the clock to add better changes like the fin-shaped triangular appendages to its Starship Prototype. Ultra powerful raptor engines would soon be added in about three months. Though the basic prototype isn’t expected to travel faster than the F9s and the Grasshopper, it is yet to be seen on what scale the test campaigns are being carried on to ensure a safe and secured landing on the Martian Terrain.
Musk shares periodical updates on the status of the BFR and it will soon be shared in the first half of 2019, but only when the Starship hopper flights have started.
