HStar Space

[BlueAbyssal]

A Franco-American-Australian company is developing a Starship clone (in appearance, if not payload): https://www.hstarspace.com/

 

[publiusr]

Instead of a chomper—it looks to have a payload bay door that slides. Better?

 

[BlueAbyssal]

HStar has updated their website; now explicitly calling themselves a European company, with the stated mission of enabling space solar power (they say reflective but mention SOLARIS), data centers (see Axiom, Thales, and Starcloud), megaconstellations, and heavy infrastructure.

Like Stoke, their first stage burns methane, and their upper stage burns hydrogen. That’s going to be a sizable orbital stage, hopefully they release details on how they’ll protect it from burning up on reentry soon. Performance fully reusable is comparable to New Glenn’s target for partial reuse, and expending the first stage, they’ll be close to Starship’s target for full reuse to LEO. They’ve got the same volume to orbit as Starship, and propose a modest ramp up - reusing a vehicle twice in 2033, and twenty-five times in 2040. Hopefully they make it faster.

I’ve long wished to see more ambition from Europeans in space, so I hope HStar can succeed both at financing their launcher and getting it to work.

 

[BlueAbyssal]

Hstar’s website shows Shuttle-esque doors to encapsulate payloads, but this article has a graphic that looks more like what SpaceX, Stoke, or Rocket Lab are envisioning: https://www.spaceconnectonline.com....s-building-one-of-the-world-s-biggest-rockets

Both offer their own challenges and advantages in design and deployment, so I’m curious if they’re still choosing which path to take.