Thread by @SpaceHaxx

Starstack 2 Orion Special: "Princess Flies Coach"

Starstack isn't a "design". It's a menu. Like Mexican food. Same few ingredients, many dishes.

Here we open the fridge and pull out the perfect concoction to send Orion safely off to TLI.

1/5 🧵 #SpaceXStarstack (@elonmusk)

We start with the same "heavy" 2nd stage with 1200 tons of fuel in it, on the same RTLS'ing SuperHeavy, but since there's people in there, we're not "cheap-maxxing" but "margin-maxxing" instead:
- spare efficiency
- spare payload
- spare fuel
- spare engines
...and no LH2.

2/5

Artemis has already declared "SLS bankruptcy" and left everything BUT Orion duty to Falcon's and Vulcan's. TLI'ing the Orion capsule was the one "real job" the SLS had left.

But if-and-once SuperHeavy truly works, using this to undercut SLS for that too is just obvious.

3/5

That would leave just one "Constellation leftover" -- the Orion capsule itself -- above ground and not yet replaced with an emergency commercial bid.

A beefed-up slapped-together "Super Dragon" could easily do this, and be as heavy as it wanted to be.

(Just saying.)

4/5

As for the "would's" and "should's"... eh.

SLS cynics, like me, expect it to get all the money it wants forever, but are suspicious about it launching again. "Imperial Collapse Energia-Buran vibes."

If so, an emergency-backup offering would be in order. Maybe like this.

5/5