Synthesis and Cost Analysis of the SpaceX Starship Launch System and Its Utilization for the NASA Lunar Mission

The recent advancements and achievements produced by SpaceX have brought the USA back into the realm of manned moon missions. With SpaceX providing the lander for the NASA Artemis missions in the future, all eyes are on them to unveil their design for a reusable Lunar landing system. The current design of Starship is not likely to represent the final design decisions regarding the Starship HLS vehicle theorized to perform the lunar mission, but the major characteristics of the vehicle are unlikely to change. Based on this understanding, a solution space is created based on the original Starship geometry designed in 2017 to complete the mission requirements of bringing the astronauts back to the Orion capsule in Lunar orbit. Trade studies of payload weight and staging velocity are performed to determine their effects on a vehicle of that size. In addition to this, a solution space of vehicles optimized for the staging velocity resulting in the minimum launch weight has been produced. A solution space representing the cost of each of these vehicles confirms the feasibility of the lunar lander development and launch system falling within the contracted cost figure. Sets of solution spaces are produced for a similar mission where Starship returns to LEO without a refuel in lunar orbit. These missions confirm feasibility with an increase in the size of Starship and a corresponding increase in operational cost.