SpaceX Is Testing The Fifth Version Of It's Starship Spacecraft - Part 2 of 2 Parts

Part 2 of 2 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
    Initially, SpaceX had intended to hop the SN3 about five hundred feet. However, since the collapse of the SN3, SpaceX now intends to make test hops with the SN4. If they do, they will only be small hops that do not require that the Raptor engines be relit.
    Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, explained that the SN4 will not be equipped with the control surfaces that are necessary in order for the Starship to perform flight where the engines are shut off and the relit. SpaceX is working on flaps, actuators and static aero design to be added to the SN5 or SN6 versions of the Starship.
     Both the SN5 and the SN6 will also have nosecones which the SN4 does not have. The nosecones will not only containe the payloads for the operational Starships but they will also contain the liquid oxygen header tank. Putting the header tank in the tip of the nosecone will help to keep the center of mass of the vehicle forward. This will be important when a Starship is descending through atmosphere without a payload aboard.
     The construction of the SN5 version of the Starship has already begun. Many of the sections have been seen inside the big production tents at SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility. In addtiong, a piece of the SN5 tank section was moved into the high bay just a few hours after the SN4 was rolled out to the launch pad on Thursday afternoon.
     As mentioned above, the SN4 will not be equipped with a nosecone. The vehicle does have several heat tiles installed on its surface. A cluster of tiles has been installed along both the engine section and towards the top of the tank section. The ultimate production version of the Starsship will have one entire side of the vehicles covered in heat tiles. This will allow the vehicle to safely reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and eventually the atmosphere of other planets. Including heat tiles on the SN4 will permit SpaceX to gain experience with the process of mounting tiles and verify that the tiles will stay properly secured to the Starship during testing.
    Elon Musk has great plans for the production and use of the Starship that his company is working on. First of all, he wants to ultimately turn out one Starship every three days at his factory. Musk is known for his optimistic projections of production schedules and I fear that this may be the case with the Starship.
    One of the primary uses of the Starship according to Musk will be the colonization of Mars, a goal of many space enthusiasts. The huge life capacity of the Starship will be required to move all the people and supplies Mars. Musk believes that thousand of people will volunteer to go to Mars permanently. As much as I have been fascinated by the exploration of space since I was a child, I have come to understand just how hostile Mars would be for human habitation. With a thin, mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere, extremely low surface temperatures, no magnetic field to fend of radiation, and perchlorates in the sand which are carcinogenic compounds, Mars makes Antarctica look like Palm Springs. I find it difficult to believe that we will see Martian settlements in our lifetimes.