• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.53-64
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• 2021

SpaceX has lowered rocket launch cost innovatively and put first stage reuse to the practical use with Falcon 9. Now the company is developing Starship system that is fully reusable with the heaviest payload in the world. So the system can lower the cost much more and fulfull more diverse mission. For the system the company have developed Raptor engine which is a full-flow staged combustion cycle one with methane fuel. And for the full reusability the company is manufacturing and testing the system prototypes with the barely used technologies such as stainless steel tank, belly flop and retropropulsion during descent. In this study the specification, missions and design features of the system are investigated. Also the development processes of Raptor engine and initial 13 Starship prototypes, which have been manufactured very rapidly, are presented.