Elon Musk Wants to Turn SpaceX Starship to a Giant Space Telescope; Is It Possible?

Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, recently stated that the company's Starship could be converted into a "huge telescope" with 10 times the resolution of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The recent revelation indicates that the billionaire still has lots of ambitious ideas for the company's spaceship.

SpaceX's Starship might bring the first astronauts to the Moon's surface since the Apollo missions, clean up our planet's increasingly polluted orbit, and possibly assist in the establishment of a metropolis on Mars.

Musk has now stated that he wishes to bring astronomical observations into the twenty-first century.

Elon Musk Wants To Turn SpaceX Starship Into Space Telescope

When a Twitter user with the handle @ChrisG_NSF raised a query about the SpaceX Starship, Elon Musk reacted to a tweet made by YouTube celebrity and astronomer Scott Manley.

"Have you looked at a variant of Starship that is essentially the probe, too?," the netizen asked on Twitter.

The user raised more questions, including whether it was possible to put science instruments into a deep space Starship rather than having to build two separate things. The user also mentioned that doing so would reduce the cost of space trips by a small amount.

Yeah, that would be cool. Also, using ship itself as structure for new giant telescope that’s >10X Hubble resolution. Was talking to Saul Perlmutter (who’s awesome) & he suggested wanting to do that.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2021

Soon after, Elon Musk responded. He gave everyone an indication of how he thinks about the proposal.

"Yeah, that would be cool," the SpaceX CEO said in reply.

"Using the spacecraft itself as a structure for a new large telescope with >10X Hubble resolution," Musk continued.

He went on to say that he had discussed the topic with astronomer Saul Perlmutter. The latter had expressed interest in doing so.

Elon Musk's Plans for SpaceX Starship

Elon Musk's latest remark about turning the SpaceX Starship into a framework for a massive space observatory adds to the expanding list of potential uses for the Starship once it is launched.

Futurism said the Starship is already planned to return astronauts to the moon, clean up space trash, and even assist in establishing a human city on Mars.

While the idea of constructing a human colony on Mars may raise some eyebrows, Elon Musk has already stated that he intends to achieve so with the Starship before 2030. He also stated that he intends for the Mars base to be self-sufficient.

ALSO READ: Elon Musk: Humanity Needs to Get to Mars "Now" to Become Multiplanetary

SpaceX Spaceship Prototype Testing

The success of all of these ambitions remains to be seen, but SpaceX is undoubtedly working hard to make them a reality. There have been several setbacks along the way, such as the explosion of a few Starship prototypes.

Elon Musk and SpaceX launched the SN11 Starship prototype in March, only to crash upon landing. The Starship SN15 landed successfully two months later.