SpaceX Starship vs. Saturn V, the showdown of the century, Musk's dream of Mars is on the way (1)

(This article is a bit long and is planned to be published in two parts, 1 and 2. You can only get a complete understanding after reading it. Please read it)

Many people are still in awe of the giant Saturn V of the last century. Even in this century, science and technology have changed a lot, but no launch vehicle has reached the height of Saturn V. So why was Saturn V not launched again? Many people are full of doubts, and even conspiracy theories are rampant.

Now Musk and his SpaceX rocket company are creating one flying legend after another, especially the 120-meter-high giant Starship that finally stood up amid repeated explosions, which makes people look up and shocked. Can the SN Starship be better than the Saturn V? Let's solve this mystery now.

The Saturn V rocket that created miracles

The Saturn V launch vehicle was the main rocket for the United States' manned lunar mission in the last century. It is the largest launch vehicle used in space launches in the world to date, with a maximum take-off weight of 3,038.5 tons, a total thrust of 3,048 tons, a low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of 118 tons, and a lunar orbit carrying capacity of 45 tons.

The Saturn V rocket carried out a total of 13 launch missions from November 9, 1967 to May 14, 1973, 12 of which were Apollo spacecraft. The Apollo spacecraft was the spacecraft that sent humans to the moon in the last century. Except for the first few ground tests, from the 4th to the 17th, except for the 5th and 7th, which were launched by the Saturn 1B SA-204 and Saturn 1B AS-205 launch vehicles respectively, the remaining 12 were successfully sent to the Earth-Moon transfer orbit by Saturn V.

Of these 12 Apollo spacecraft, except for 3 which were unmanned experiments, 9 were manned spacecraft, including 2 earth orbit and lunar orbit experimental spacecraft, 1 Apollo 13 whose mission was terminated due to a malfunction and returned midway, and 6 Apollo spacecraft completed the manned lunar landing mission, sending 12 astronauts to the moon and bringing them back.

The last launch of Saturn V was to send the "Skylab" space station into low-Earth orbit. This space station consists of five parts: the orbital work module, the transition module, the multi-purpose docking module, the solar telescope and the "Apollo" spacecraft. It is 36 meters long, 6.7 meters in diameter and weighs about 80 tons. Only the first and second stage rockets were used for this launch. Saturn V has since completed its mission and withdrawn from the stage of history.

Saturn V was a perfect rocket with a 100% launch success rate, creating a legend in the history of rocket launches.

Features of the Saturn V launch vehicle

The Saturn V design team was led by Wernher von Braun. He was a genius rocket expert who once served the German Nazis and was the chief designer of the world's first missile, the famous V2 rocket. After Germany's defeat, the United States brought him and his design team back to the United States to serve NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). NASA's evaluation of him is: Without a doubt, he is the greatest rocket scientist in history.

The total height of Saturn V is 110.6 meters, and it uses a three-stage rocket. The first stage is 42 meters long and 10 meters in diameter. The diameter at the bottom of the tail increases to 13 meters. It is equipped with 5 F-1 engines, and the propellants are liquid oxygen and kerosene; the second stage is 25 meters long and 10 meters in diameter, equipped with 5 J-2 engines, and uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants; the third stage is 18.8 meters long and 6.6 meters in diameter, equipped with 1 J-2 engine, and the propellants are liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

The instrument cabin and payload are located above the third-stage rocket. The composition and functions of the three-stage rocket are as follows: the first-stage rocket has a full fuel load of 2,300 tons (131 tons without fuel), a working time of 150 seconds, a shutdown separation altitude of 68,000 meters, and a speed of 2,756 meters per second; the second-stage rocket has a full fuel load of 480 tons (36 tons without fuel), a working time of 360 seconds, a shutdown separation altitude of 170,000 meters, and a speed of 7,000 meters per second;

The third-stage rocket has a full fuel load of 120.8 tons (fuel-free mass is 10 tons), a working time of 165 + 335 seconds (two ignitions), the first shutdown altitude is 191,200 meters, the speed is 7750 meters/second, and the second ignition is 2 hours and 40 minutes after takeoff. At this time, it has entered the Earth-Moon transfer orbit and the speed reaches 11,200 meters/second.

Saturn V Rumors

It has been 50 years since the Saturn V took the spotlight. 50 years is just a moment in the history of the universe and the earth, but for humans, it is a lifetime. As a result, rumors about the moon landing and Saturn V have continued to emerge. Many people question the authenticity of the manned moon landing, and even question whether Saturn V is fake. Otherwise, why have humans not been able to land on the moon for decades? Why has Saturn V never appeared again?

Another theory is that the Saturn V blueprints were lost. If this is true, wouldn't it be very strange? For such a huge project, there must be a huge amount of blueprints. How could they all be lost at once? It's terrifying to think about it. Some people think the whole incident is a conspiracy.

Anyone with a little common sense would find the truth of the moon landing ridiculous. Scientists all over the world, including officials and scientists from China, North Korea, and Iran, which are not friendly to the United States, have never denied it. Can a poor nitpicker who can't read a few words overturn this fact with his eyes closed? So I won't waste my time talking nonsense here.

NASA has long debunked the rumor that the Saturn V drawings were lost, saying it was a complete lie and conspiracy theory. The drawings were stored on microfilm at the Marshall Space Flight Center, and the original paper drawings were stored in the federal archives in Georgia, with a volume of hundreds of cubic meters.

Since the blueprints and technology to build the Saturn V rocket still exist, why is such a high-performance rocket not being used? NASA officials have also explained this point, believing that it is meaningless to rebuild the Saturn V because it is an old design, those thousands of old parts have long been discontinued, and it is no longer advanced now, and the cost is extremely high.

In fact, anyone with a little logical thinking and modern scientific knowledge can realize that the technology of the last century is no longer at the same level as today. You should know that the computing power of a mobile phone is much more powerful than the combined power of all the computers on the Apollo spacecraft. Isn't it ridiculous to cling to the past technology?

Of course, the development of space technology today is inherited from that era, but it is far superior to that era. When humans go to the moon again, they will not just stay in the past and be satisfied with picking up a few rocks, but will have deeper considerations, such as building bases, developing tourism or mineral deposits, and rehearsing for landing on Mars.

The American plan to return to the moon is aimed at these goals. The world's first private rocket company founded by Musk, SpaceX, is working to help humans land on the moon again and send humans to Mars. It has created one miracle after another and developed a new type of starship that breaks through human thinking.

The legendary rocket man Musk

Elon Musk has become a legend followed by the global spotlight. This student with a double degree in physics and economics entered Stanford University to pursue a doctorate program in materials science and applied physics at the age of 24 in 1995. But on the second day of enrollment, he suddenly decided to leave school and start a business.

His entrepreneurial journey seemed to be smooth. In just a few years, he became a major shareholder of a sizable PayPal company and served as its CEO. In 2001, he began to compile his Mars dream and planned a "Mars Oasis" project to build a laboratory on Mars, but he found that to realize this project, he had to buy a Russian launch vehicle, and the cost was far higher than the budget.

So he put the plan on hold and instead founded Space Exploration Technologies Corporation in 2002, which soon became famous as Space X. He served as CEO and CTO, specializing in rocket launch technology and how to reduce launch costs. He was determined to build human space civilization and planned to realize Mars immigration in the future.

At first, people were sarcastic and laughed at this man who was creative and often made shocking statements, some of which seemed even more sci-fi than science fiction. But soon people found that he was not just an arrogant person who made empty promises, and all his boasts actually came true.

Space X was the first to realize the world's only rocket recovery technology to date; it developed the beautiful "Dragon spacecraft" and achieved automatic docking with the International Space Station; the new space suit he designed was completely different from the bulky appearance of the past and is comparable to fashion.

Launching 60 Starlink satellites at a time, the Starlink network consisting of 12,000 satellites will be completed in 2004, which will completely change the way Internet is transmitted. The global satellite network will eliminate all base stations in it, and 5G and 6G will become obsolete.

Almost every few days, Musk will break a shocking piece of news.

It seems that all his "big words" are not "empty words", because in addition to investing in Space X rocket company, Musk also holds controlling stakes in Tesla Motors, SolarCity Photovoltaic Power Generation, OpenAI, The Boring Company, Neuralink, Future of Life Institute, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Starlink and many other companies and organizations. The industries involved include artificial intelligence, life research, public transportation, new energy and many other fields, and they are all cutting-edge research.

For example, his ongoing research on mind uploading is at the forefront of the world, and Tesla electric cars are leading the world trend. The underground transportation system he is developing is even more incredible. He threatens to build a more than 30-story underground transportation network, relying on electric sliders to transport cars at a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour; he also wants to build a closed pipeline super high-speed rail with a speed of 1,200 kilometers per hour.

Now Musk is more qualified to say this because he is already the richest man in the world. His huge wealth combined with his super brain will create more miracles.

To be continued. Please look forward to the original article of Spacetime Communications, "SpaceX Starship vs. Saturn V, the Showdown of the Century, Musk's Mars Dream is on the Way (2)". Thank you for reading.