The world is watching! What exactly is the "Starship" that Musk is going to launch today?

After four years of various tests, ignitions, and test flights, SpaceX is finally about to launch the first fully assembled "Starship".

On April 17, Musk's SpaceX plans to launch its large deep space rocket Starship on Monday. According to SpaceX's schedule, the launch window of Starship is within 150 minutes starting at 20:00 Beijing time on Monday (17th).

This is the first major test of the new launch system. If successful, it will be a major milestone in Musk's plans to take humans to distant destinations such as Mars.

It is reported that the Starship rocket (B7), spacecraft (S24), and super heavy booster will form a truly complete version of the Starship, and conduct an orbital flight test (OFT), with the goal of low-Earth orbit (LEO), trying to fly around the earth once, and finally landing in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. After that, the Starship will enter the comprehensive flight test phase.

However, no one has the answer to whether the Starship can be successfully tested, but what is certain is that it is extremely difficult. Musk once said that the cost of the first launch of the Starship spacecraft is about 3 billion US dollars (about 20.6 billion yuan), and the probability of success or failure is like flipping a coin.

According to SpaceX, the "Starship" has a total height of about 120 meters and consists of two parts. One is the "super heavy booster" called "Super Heavy", which is 70 meters high and equipped with 33 "Raptor" engines; the other is the "Starship" spacecraft with the same name as the system, which is 50 meters high and equipped with 6 "Raptor" engines and can carry cargo and personnel.

In the future, the Starship may grow about 10 meters taller and add three vacuum-version Raptor engines.

Once put into use, the Starship spacecraft will become the most powerful rocket ever built by mankind, capable of generating approximately 7,500 tons of thrust at takeoff and an Earth orbit carrying capacity of more than 100 tons, capable of sending cargo and astronauts to Earth orbit, the moon, Mars and even deeper space.