Other Parts

External Parts

Nose cone

Material

307L Stainless

A nose cone with integrated header tank was pressure tested to failure at the launch site. The remains of the damaged nose cone are still located near the launch platform.

Fins

Upper

• 2 Actuating canard fins at the nosecone area

Nosecone of Starship SN11 - Photo by @bocachicagal

Lower

• 2 Lower Control Fins nicknamed "Flings"
• 1.5 megawatts needed per fin

SN8 Lower Fins - Photo by Elon Musk

Engines

The Raptor is a full-flow, staged combustion rocket engine powered by cryogenic methane and liquid oxygen (LOX)

Sea-Level Raptor Engine

Rocket Motors	Raptor	Raptor
Controlled	3 Gimbaled	3 Non-gimbaled
Style	Sea level bells	Vacuum Bell
Diameter	1.3 m/4 ft
Height	3.1 m/10.2 ft
Thrust	2 MN/440 klbf

Heat Shields

• Hexagon shaped and will be attached by mechanical means unlike the space shuttles which were glued.
• Image of heat shield tiles attached to Starhopper

Heat sheild test conducted March 17 2019

Heat Shields that were on Starship SN9

Internal parts

Header tank

A small spherical structure which is intended to contain fuel to ensure a pressurized fuel source for landing

SN13 header tank originally for SN13 before his cancellation - Photo by @bocachicagal

Bulkheads

Dome-shaped structures forming upper and lower boundaries of fuel and LOX tanks. They are stamp pressed and  Tip Tig welded ,along with the rest of the Starship components. They have an outer ring placed over them and are then attached with a metal inner ring about 2' thick and 3-4' wide which are presumed to be the new welding points for mating to the outer hull of the ship/tank.

Tanks

Sir Egglon (also called Bopper 1) is the first tank that was created to test tank design for SN1. It was a minimal tank design consisting of 2 bulkheads each with 1 ring attached to them. They were stacked and welded together  on 7th of January 2020. A water pressure test resulted in failure at the weld joints at ~6.7bar.

Following the pressure test with Sir Egglon, tank design was modified and a second minimal tank (Bopper 2) was assembled, again consisting of 2 bulkheads separated by a pair of rings. This time a doubler weld was added at the point where the rings overlapped as a reinforcement. This tank was first tested with water and sprang a small leak at a weld joint at 7.5bar (Jan. 28, 2020). This was repaired, and a second test was performed immediately afterwards at cryo temperatures (where the strength of steel greatly increases) using liquid Nitrogen. Failure occurred at 8.5bar which was the desired pressure for a human-rated spaceflight tank. Elon declared this test a success, indicating that now SN 1 assembly could proceed.

Future tanks for SN 1 will consist of bulkheads separated by many more rings (approximately 7) to hold the needed volume of methane and LOX for starship.

Thrust Structure

This will be the lower part of the Starship About 2.5 rings on the bottom, that will take the load  of the engines thrust and distribute it to the rest of the ship when the engines are in use. 

• Puck

This is part of the lower bulkhead that according to Elon Musk is the part that allows the raptor engines to be attached to the fuel tanks. Unfortunately this is what Lead to SN1 demise while being cyro tested. It is now the focus of the next pressure test.

Actuators

Lower Fins

• Direct Driven with Tesla Plaid motors

Internal Batteries

Tesla made Batteries Housed in the upper part of the nosecone.