Single Stage Point to Point Up To 6000 Miles With Mach 20 Starship

 
Interesting conversation here regarding the possibility of a point to point craft for transporting passenger.  It has to be big enough to go sub orbital and to hit 20 Mach, obviously above the atmosphere.

Thing is that we are close to doing this and it may well be a superior solution to the Concorde.

These were described quite well in SF in the past.  Now we may get to see them.
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Single Stage Point to Point Up To 6000 Miles With Mach 20 Starship


Brian Wang | May 31, 2019



https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2019/05/single-stage-point-to-point-up-to-6000-miles-with-mach-20-starship.html


Elon Musk says adding two to four Raptor Engines to the Starship will let it go sub-orbital for 6000 miles at mach 20. This would mean trips like San Francisco to Shanghai or New York to Berlin. Many world cities are within 6000 miles of each other.

Boeing extended range 767s can reach 6000 miles and the newer 777 and 787 have longer ranges.

If SpaceX can determines ways to save 30% on Starship point to point efficiency then they could get to 8000-mile ranges. This might be possible by lightening landing gear and heat shields. They could need less heat shields for sub-orbital only vehicles.



Going from two stages to one stage will increase the safety of the Starship. Increasing safety by 1000 times is the major hurdle to transporting passengers.

President and COO Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX could begin offering Earth-to-Earth transport services as early as 2025, if not earlier with Musk’s proposed Starship-only variant. This would start with non-passenger services.














Pranay Pathole @PPathole


· May 30, 2019

Replying to @elonmusk and 6 others


I guess the whole SSTO idea doesn't work because of lift off thrust. Raptor is powerful, but with a full propellant load Starship has a TWR under 1. It would need two more engines to have any shot at it.


Starship thrust is appropriately scaled for what it's supposed to do.


Elon Musk ✔ @elonmusk


Add 2 to 4 more Raptors for Starship point to point on Earth. You can go surprisingly far, even with low lift/drag. This was an unexpected result.




2:05 AM - May 30, 2019



Eric Ralph @13ericralph31


· May 30, 2019


Replying to @elonmusk and 7 others


Ah, so single-stage point-to-point? That sounds way better.


Elon Musk ✔ @elonmusk


Yeah, *way* better. Dramatically improves cost, complexity & ease of operations. Distances of ~10,000 km with decent payload seem achievable at roughly Mach 20.



2:14 AM - May 30, 2019

Elon Musk ✔ @elonmusk


· May 30, 2019


Replying to @13ericralph31 and 7 others


Yeah, *way* better. Dramatically improves cost, complexity & ease of operations. Distances of ~10,000 km with decent payload seem achievable at roughly Mach 20.


Eric Ralph @13ericralph31


My thoughts exactly! Simply moving from 2-stage to SSTO would make point-to-point so much more viable. Probably means Starship could operate much closer to land, compared to a 31-Raptor booster...


2:16 AM - May 30, 2019