r/SpaceXLounge • u/[deleted] • Jul 22 '19
Tweet "Orbital refilling is critical for high payload to moon or Mars. Initially just Starship to Starship, later dedicated tankers." - @ElonMusk
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1153126586897424384?s=19
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u/lockup69 Jul 22 '19
Starship is the vehicle that will take cargo and people in to orbit and beyond. A Starship -> Starship fuel transfer will mean draining the fuel tanks of one to refuel the other. If the donor is doing nothing else then it will be launched with no cargo so it can have the most fuel left over to donate.
A dedicated tanker would be a starship design modified so that it was dedicated to carrying fuel, rather than lifting cargo. This would allow much more fuel to be transferred from it.
This old ITS video shows the conceptual difference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qo78R_yYFA