These test flights show how SpaceX’s development style differs from NASA’s, Forczyk said: NASA is a government-funded company that uses the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft to create a Although every component was tested to perfection with the agency, Congress, and the White House looking over the agency’s shoulders, SpaceX has improved with multiple launches, seeking to do better with each effort. I will try my best.
Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist and space economics researcher at the University of Central Florida, agrees. “SpaceX follows a development process that tests all issues before they are resolved, resulting in failures. Although sometimes criticized, it is a proven method that is cheaper and faster in the end. ” he says.
SpaceX must obtain another launch license from the FAA before launching again, which it cannot do until the current joint accident investigation is complete. It took seven months between Starship’s first and second flights, thanks to previous research and SpaceX’s hardware redesign and launch pad rebuild, but the third flight will be much faster. there is a possibility. “There was no pad failure and the explosion occurred at a much higher altitude, so I think the FAA will be less concerned this time. I think they will give SpaceX the green light sooner this time,” said Cornell University Aviation. space engineer Nilufer Kamran says.
But if environmental and local groups are filing lawsuits near the Boca Chica, Texas, launch site, which would require the FAA to write a new environmental impact report that would result in a more rigorous and time-consuming review, the Starship Plans may be delayed.
According to company information, SpaceX is targeting a third test flight in early 2024. filing with the Federal Communications Commission.Musk too I wrote to X Starship’s flight hardware is expected to be completed within three to four weeks. Once again, the goal is to fly almost around the world, re-enter the atmosphere, and splash down near Hawaii.
SpaceX will need to complete at least a few successful test flights, including an uncrewed moon landing, before putting people on board. Returning astronauts from Earth orbit is one thing; returning astronauts safely from the moon is another. A trip to the moon will require a spacecraft that can handle faster re-entry speeds and higher temperatures.
Each Artemis mission would actually require SpaceX to launch many spacecraft: the plan would be to loft About 20 of them, each carrying fuel to fill a propellant reservoir in Earth orbit. A modified landing version of the spacecraft would use a supply depot to fill its tanks and head to the lunar landing site.
While SpaceX made some progress between the first and second test flights, Starship engineers are working hard to make the rocket safe for crewed flights with NASA and commercial partners. There is. “Every time they do a test flight, they raise the bar even higher for themselves, because they have to move really quickly,” Forchik says.
