Elon Musk's employee update released January 12th

Elon Musk's employee update released January 12th

Quote:

They are planning to double its payload capacity to 200 tons to orbit, twice the Saturn-5.

Comment:

Shouldn't the re-usable spacecraft count as payload as well? The Saturn V was not re-usable. This has consequences, as it took a lot less rocket to lift it all up to orbit. Since 100 tons of empty spacecraft is going to be returned to Earth, it will take a lot more rocket power to get it to orbit. The Starship/Superheavy is indeed more powerful than the Saturn V. But the Saturn V didn't need re-fueling because it was expendable.

Doubling that payload while making it re-usable is just staggering. That means 300 tons are being lifted to orbit, of which 100 tons is the Starship itself. It should count as payload too, since it is going to be re-used. Anyway, you could put more payload onboard if you wanted to make it expendable.

For example, much consternation is being expressed over how many launches it will take to refill the Starship so that it can land on the moon. However, you could fit the ENTIRE third stage and the rest of Saturn V onboard the Starship with plenty of capacity to spare. If all of it were re-usable, the Starship/Superheavy could do it all in one just as the Saturn V, but send more payload as well.

But it would need to be made expendable as the Saturn V. Why make it re-usable anyway? It isn't going to be kept anyhow. It's going to stay on the moon in the current configuration.

Why not split it up into expendable portions so that you aren't landing such a big craft on the lunar surface? All that mass is virtually useless anyway. You won't need that much rocket power to land on the moon. Why keep the mass?