/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15190877
It takes 3 months during the Mars transfer window to get to Mars from Earth. Elon & Gwynne both confirmed that they want to have around 100 launches with Starship/SuperHeavy under their belt before they put humans on it. If their rate of launches increases at a rate of 10 every 6 months, then over the next 5 years, they'll get to around 300 launches. Which they'll need to do to satisfy:

1. Starlink Gen2 big bois for big $$ printers
2. HLS Demo, HLS Crew
3. In-orbit refueling demo
4. Resupply missions to ISS via Starship because lol

Also, the next Mars transfer window period doesn't start until October 2024. They can't launch any ships towards Mars, otherwise it would take 9 months to get there given the distance Mars is at currently relative to during the transfer window. This will remain perpetually a bottleneck until stable core fusion engines are created for Starship where the 3 Vacuum Raptors are eventually replaced by fusion torches basically and then the sea-level Raptors exist only for Earth; and Vacuum Raptors would be used effectively everywhere in the solar system including for Mars landing--because fusion will let us get to insane ISP second ranges and thrust values from highest to lowest.