EDIT: You mention orbital fuel transfers.
AFAIK, that hasn’t been even designed, at all.
They did an in-craft fuel transfer during their last test. While it’s certainly complex to pump fuel around without gravity, that’s only the small first step in actually transferring fuel. Making a connection in orbit that’s capable of fully refueling an entirely seperate craft is an order of magnitude harder.
Yeah, they could just slap an PMA+IDA port on Starship like the ISS has, but that’s just a hole with data and power ports. Those are pretty easy compared to fuel transfer, and they’re specifically NOT suited to lateral forces. It also seems a bit unfit-for-purpose to make a big and heavy crew-transfer dock when you don’t have to.
True, an IDA port is not well suited for fuel transfer. I was thinking more of the GNC software experience SpaceX have for rendezvous and docking in general. I suspect the ports themselves will look more like the ship and booster quick disconnects we see at the launch site.
They did an in-craft fuel transfer during their last test. While it’s certainly complex to pump fuel around without gravity, that’s only the small first step in actually transferring fuel. Making a connection in orbit that’s capable of fully refueling an entirely seperate craft is an order of magnitude harder.
They do have some experience in this area though. Dragon can autonomously dock to the ISS.
Yeah, they could just slap an PMA+IDA port on Starship like the ISS has, but that’s just a hole with data and power ports. Those are pretty easy compared to fuel transfer, and they’re specifically NOT suited to lateral forces. It also seems a bit unfit-for-purpose to make a big and heavy crew-transfer dock when you don’t have to.
True, an IDA port is not well suited for fuel transfer. I was thinking more of the GNC software experience SpaceX have for rendezvous and docking in general. I suspect the ports themselves will look more like the ship and booster quick disconnects we see at the launch site.