This story caught our eye since the spacecraft will be arriving near our home on Kauai. Yesterday, SpaceX filed plans with the federal government’s FCC to land their first orbital Starship here in Hawaii. To be specific, if things go as planned, it will land on the ocean, just miles north of the Garden Island.
The flight, the rocket’s first orbital test, is the beginning of plans to land on Mars eventually. And that’s just the beginning.
After takeoff from SpaceX in Texas, the Starship will separate from its booster and then orbit the earth once at an altitude of just 72 miles above the earth. Then it will target Kauai, where some 90 minutes after launch, it is scheduled to have a “powered, targeted landing just off Kauai’s northwest coast, at a distance of 62 miles to be exact.
Recently, the vehicle’s prototype performed a similar landing to what is expected here in Hawaii. The vehicle stands 160 feet tall and is built of stainless steel while the booster attached, it is nearly 400 feet tall.
An exact date has not been set for the takeoff and near-Kauai landing. However, it will be sometime between now and February.
It is also in Musk’s plans to make travel between planets something not far from airline travel.
Once completed, SpaceX will carry both people and cargo to both Mars and the moon. In addition, the company has a $3 billion contract from NASA for carrying astronauts.
The company has had a series of recent flights in preparation for their trip to Hawaii.
We’d love to get a glimpse of this, although that appears unlikely. So instead, the spacecraft will arrive at Kauai via open ocean from the northwest.
Fascinating plans include New York to London in one hour.
Musk hopes to use his Starship for transporting people between cities too in what he calls point to point (orbital) transportation. Thus, virtually any city pair on earth would be within one hour away. Musk estimated that such travel, somewhat equivalent to airline travel, is both feasible and could represent a $20 billion annual market. That is according to proponents, of course, while others disagree.
Image courtesy of SpaceX.
Not a fan of this plan….. Musk should land somewhere else
If Elon is a visionary he might fix the planet before erecting a phallus to match his ego.
Great idea for rental car options. I agree with supporting the local economy. It may just spark better pricing with the other companies, if visitors use the island rental group.
Aloha!
Watching SpaceX’s launches/docking/et al with the ISS has been awe-inspring and a welcomed distraction from Covid and the seeming never-ending social issues at hand. Mahalo to Elon Musk and his outstanding team of fellow visionaries!!
Most people don’t know it but, there’s a military base on the southwest side of Kauai. They track satellites and other space garbage from there. We played golf with a guy who was an officer at the base up at Kuks, he was the third best golfer in the state of Hawaii, lets just say he was very good at the game and it was nice day. He was a native polynesian and made his home on the Big Island and would commute between the Big Island and Kauai. This kind of thing is one of the things we love about Hawaii.
Aloha Guys
Aloha BOH Bro’s of the Stars
Question: Will the Star Ship require a 72 hour covid pretest before takeoff or will it have to enter a Kauai quarantine bubble resort after landing?
Hi Richard.
Thanks. We needed that. 🤪
Aloha.
Amazing. A Da Vinci of our time.
I’ve witnessed 2 SpaceX launches (Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9) and 1 landing back at the Cape. Absolutely mind boggling. Musk is truly a visionary.
I recently returned from a 1 month stay on Kauai. As everyone knows rental cars are not to be found or if they are it’s your arm and leg paying for them. I rented from Andrew at Islandrentalcarshawaii.com and highly recommend their service and honesty. We ended up with an older car that ran very well and Andrew was great to work with. Forget about the airport fees and all the hassle. The local people need this income and we were very happy to use their service. I’d give the 5 stars.
Support “local” indeed!
Yes! Support local businesses whenever you have the option. Don’t put another penny into the corporate treasury’s. Now if Andrew would start accepting cryptocurrency…