What fundamental feature distinguishes Starship from Saturn V and SLS architectures?

Answer

Fully reusable two-stage system

Starship represents a significant philosophical departure from the massive, government-driven heavy-lift designs of the past like the Saturn V, and even the current expendable SLS. The primary differentiator lies in its design goal: full, rapid reusability across its entire system. Starship utilizes a two-stage approach, pairing the Super Heavy booster with the Starship upper stage, with the intention that both stages will be recovered and reused repeatedly. This contrasts sharply with the core stages of the SLS, which utilize a conventional, expendable architecture optimized for achieving specific performance targets on a per-launch basis, lacking the economic driver of reusability aimed at drastically lowering the cost-per-kilogram to orbit.

What fundamental feature distinguishes Starship from Saturn V and SLS architectures?

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